Twisted Love for You
by ultamitblueyes
Summary: Little Naruto, always crying for a friend. Little Sasuke, wanted attention from his brother. Naruto gets a new friend, Sasuke's still lonely. Naruto won't let him be... AU, Shounenai, SasuNaru, ItaOC, KakaIru
1. Chapter 1

Dani: wow… how long has it been since I've been on this site!

Shicora: hmmm….a while…

Dani: . . /cough/ well… My new obsession has become Naruto :D…and the pairing? Sasuke/Naruto! Don't like 'em? Then don't bother reading this…I want no criticism on these two… you'll get bitch slapped if you do…

Shicora/blink/ anyway…

Summary: Little Naruto, always crying for attention. Little Sasuke, always crying for a real friend. Both wanted the others' life, thus, jealous. Naruto meets someone new, his first friend apart from Iruka. Sasuke becomes more jealous because Naruto took the last person he cared about. The kyuubi holder wouldn't let Sasuke be alone like he was…

WARNINGS: AU, Shounen-ai, child abuse, and gore, don't like any of these then click the back button to leave please.

Pairings: Kaka/Iru, no pairing of Naruto and Sasuke in this one… but will be in the sequel, just hugs for these two. Implies of Ita/OC

Disclaimer: all the wonderful characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto! claps. Only one character in this story belongs to me.

Enjoy!

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In the village, hidden leaf, Konoha, two little boys were quite alone. One watched as people walked by, glaring at him and shooting cruel words at him. The other was watching his brother being praised by his father, getting no attention from either. One was considered a prodigy, the other, a monster. But they needed something to curl up to and cry to. A friend. The prodigy boy had his brother's friend, and the monster had no one. 

But that didn't stop little Naruto from smiling bright like the sun.

Naruto walked around the village, a rice ball in his mouth and his orange shirt practically hanging off his small frame. Every now and then he would pull up his baggy light blue pants and jump two steps he missed. The blonde haired boy with a rare kind of blue eyes and whisker-like scars on each of his round cheeks, looked around, taking a small bite out of his rice ball, he watched as a woman pushed her child into the house. She turned to throw a deadly glare at him and shut the door.

He turned his head another way and two men were looking at him the same way the woman did, the same way everyone but the Hokage, Iruka-sensei, and men in white armor and masks looked at him. Did he do something wrong? He didn't remember doing anything that would cause them to do this.

Naruto, still not used to the glares, quickened his pace to his apartment.

"Look…it's that demon again."

"He's always smiling… probably happy that he got rid of the fourth…"

"How could the Hokage let the monster roam free? Surely he would lock him up…imagine all the damage he would cause again!"

"Nasty little thing… Ino! Get over here!"

Naruto stopped to look ahead. There was the blonde girl he sat near in Ninja Academy. She always stared at the raven haired boy with black eyes, much like every girl in the class. He raised his hand to wave and smiled his warm smile.

"Hi Ino!"

The woman stiffened and pushed Ino in the house before the little girl could wave back. She shut the door and huffed, picking up a broom and swatting Naruto away from her home.

"Go away you monster! And stay away from my daughter!"

Naruto scurried away, holding up his pants and ignoring the pain in his bottom. He stopped running when he was a few houses away from the mad woman and huffed and puffed. What was wrong with saying hi to a person from school? Naruto blinked and looked down at his sandals sadly. He had no friends. Why?

Sniffling, he continued walking home. Naruto wanted to see and hang out with Iruka, but Iruka had to do something for the Hokage. So he was alone walking the streets, trying hard to ignore the insults he received. He rubbed his still sore bottom and stopped in front of the Uchiha estate.

He knew this was where the raven haired boy in his class, Sasuke, his name was, lived. They were even cruel to the blonde, except Sasuke. Sasuke was as nice as the other students in his class, though just a little bit nicer. Blinking up at the high walls and doors, Naruto fidgeted. Maybe Sasuke would play with him… but nobody would let him in. Everyone would shoo him out and away with sticks or brooms, much harder than the woman earlier…

Naruto wrinkled his nose, then scratched it. Sasuke always shared with Naruto, and gave him advice, even if the advice seemed out of exasperation. He was nicer than the other boys who picked on him because he was smaller than them and was quite clumsy.

He wanted Sasuke to be his friend. A friend he wouldn't share.

Raising a small shaky hand, and taking a few steps closer to the tall door.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto squeaked and turned around in terror, staring up with wide eyes at the teen in front of him. He had a bored expression on his face and stared down at the boy with eyes as black as Sasuke's, but lacked the child-like spark. Speaking of Sasuke…he looked almost like him…Only taller, longer hair, and lines that Naruto saw on Iruka when Iruka had a restless night.

"Uh…um…I..." If this man looked like Sasuke, he was a Uchiha then… and Uchiha's weren't very nice to him.

The teen raised an eyebrow.

"Itachi! I-" Naruto blinked at the melodic voice and looked past the black haired boy and saw another teen with sandy brown hair. She had a smile on her face that surpassed even Naruto's, real or fake.

A light blush made it's was to his chubby cheeks at the beauty stopped jogging to be with this Itachi. The teen turned his head to the female who glared daggers at him.

"How dare you leave me alone! You ungrateful-" The girl blinked and looked down at the fidgeting and blushing Naruto. "Well hello… who are you?"

Naruto nibbled on his bottom lip and his hands fidgeted even more behind his back. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto…"

The female blinked and Itachi glared at the blonde. Naruto shrunk back under his gaze. The girl, whose eyes were mostly blue but had several other colors gently scattered in her irises, looked at the boy, bewildered and then looked at Itachi. She glared at him and socked his arm.

"Don't be so mean! He's just a little boy…" Itachi then turn his glare to her as she bent down.

Naruto froze when her hand petted his head and trailed down to his chin where she lifted his face up to hers and stared in his eyes. Patiently, but frightened, he waited for the blow that most people gave him after grabbing his chin, others would kick him.

"You're so adorable!" She smiled at him. "I'm Kalya, this icicle beside me is Uchiha Itachi." Itachi's glare on the girl hardened.

Naruto giggled. "He's not an icicle!"

"Hmm… you're right… he's a frozen lake!" Naruto laughed as Itachi growled.

"Kalya…." He growled out her name viciously.

"Oh hush!" Kalya picked up the little laughing Naruto and nuzzled their cheeks together. "Why are you standing in front of the Uchiha estate, Naruto?"

Naruto quieted.

"I wanted to find Sasuke…" Naruto whispered, pushing his forefingers together.

"Sasuke? Oh… you must be the funny blonde he keeps talking about," Kayla pushed open the door to the estate with Itachi behind her.

"Funny?" Naruto's head tilted to the side and he looked at the people within the high walls stare at him with their mouths agape.

Itachi cleared his throat and put a hand on Kalya's back and pushed her gently but making her walk faster.

"Itachi?"

"People are staring…" he murmured and continued to push her untill they reached the largest house through the whole estate.

"Wow!" Naruto exclaimed. "Sasuke lives here? It's so huge!"

"Yes, it is," The multi-colored eyed female shook her head at Itachi as he opened the door and took off his sandals. "Doesn't ever open the door for a lady… That's down right rude Itachi!"

Itachi shrugged and walked inside. Naruto watched as Kalya huffed and entered the house, pushing off her sandals with her feet. Placing Naruto to his feet she stretched and nodded at him to take off his sandals. Naruto nodded back and hurriedly pulled off his sandals.

"Hey Sasuke!" she called and looked through the halls.

Naruto looked around the room he was in, pulling up his pants again.

Naruto looked back at the female and saw a boy with a bad bed head that matched his own wild hair at the moment. Instantly he knew it was Sasuke, even if the boy had a sleepy expression on his face and was groggily rubbing his eyes.

"Yes nee-chan?" Sasuke yawned and blinked the sleep from his eyes.

"Aww… Sasuke, were you napping? I'm sorry for waking you…" Kalya bent down and kissed the top of his head. "Oh! And someone wanted to see you."

Sasuke's head shot up and he stared up at Kalya then behind her, where he saw a tuft of blonde hair.

"Hi Sasuke!" Naruto waved excitedly.

"Naruto?" Sasuke blinked and tilted his head to the side. "What are you doing here?"

"Kalya-chan let me in!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head and stuck his tongue out with a smile. He later blinked. "Kalya-chan is your nee-chan?"

"Well…no... But she's always around so…" Sasuke shrugged and yawned again.

Kalya smiled and looked at Naruto. "Care to join us for lunch?"

Naruto nodded vigorously. He was never invited to lunch, let alone invited into a house. "Do you have ramen? Ramen's the best!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow while Kalya chuckled. "I'll see what I can do… And Sasuke? Why don't you show him around?" She patted Sasuke's head and walked down the hall to her right.

The two six year old boys stared at each other. Naruto fidgeted and Sasuke wrinkled his nose.

"Come on…I'll show you the garden… it's the only place in this whole house that's not boring…" Sasuke turned heels and started walking.

Naruto tilted his head to the side, blinking several times. Sasuke, padding down the hall in front of him, stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"Are you coming or not?"

Naruto jumped slightly and hurried to Sasuke's side. He hissed at the freezing contact that his feet made to the floor.

"Why is the floor so cold?" Naruto stuttered.

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know… I never noticed it either."

The blonde's mouth formed a small 'o' and Sasuke chortled.

"You're so weird…" and Sasuke ran off to the garden as Naruto's cheeks puffed up.

"I am not weird!" His eyes closed in anger and raised a small shaking fist. "You take that back Sasuke!"

Sasuke had managed to get out in the garden before he was tackled by a yellow, orange, and blue blur.

"Take it back you- you!" Naruto shook Sasuke who was laughing. "Stop laughing!"

All this was watched by Itachi from the kitchen window. He scowled and crossed his arms. Kalya was cooking something that smelled delicious. Too bad his parents weren't here at the moment to smell the delicious aroma; actually, it's a good thing they weren't here at the moment. His parents weren't quite…positive of the Kyuubi holder or Kalya for a reason he did not know and was currently trying to figure out. His mother would've stared at Naruto with disgust and so would his father, but he'd take most of his anger out on Kalya who let him in. Everyone in this estate could not keep their mouths shut so his parents would find out before they reached the house. They would throw her and Naruto out and never letting them back in.

Kalya hummed to herself and wiped her floured hands on her pants and stood next to Itachi to look outside. Her good natured smile grazed her face.

"Aww… Sasuke's laughing… That's a good sign that they'll become great friends," she watched as Naruto continued to chase Sasuke who had escaped his clutches and was weaving his way from tree to bush, making the little blonde boy run around in circles.

"Why did you bring the Kyuubi holder here? You know this will cause problems," Itachi said, emotionlessly.

Kalya scoffed. "Not you too Itachi! And his name is not 'the Kyuubi holder'. It's Naruto." She lightly pushed him and went back to her cooking.

"Mother and Father will not like this at all…" the Uchiha sat on the counter and watched his female companion chop the vegetables skillfully.

"So? They're not my parents, and I am glad I am not related to you Uchihas, you're stubborn, too prideful, and a bit on the cruel side." Itachi raised an eyebrow at her description of his clan.

"A bit on the cruel side?"

"Yes, and I call anyone, who discriminates anyone else just because they have something sealed in them that killed others, cruel bastards. And if you're one we are no longer friends." She slammed the knife down on the onion and cutting board, causing both things to break in half.

Itachi smirked. "Have I discriminated the child yet?"

"No, but you did call him the Kyuubi holder. Meaning your thoughts of him are the same as everybody else's. Naruto is not a monster."

Kalya turned to the cabinet where the dishes were kept and felt a pair of strong arms encircle her waist. A laughing smile was on her face as she rolled her eyes.

"I apologize dear Kalya, thoughts of…Naruto as a monster will be vanished from my mind." Itachi buried his face in her hair.

"Nice try Itachi, now let me go," she said in a sweet tone that implied if he didn't let her go, he would no longer have hands.

Itachi obliged and smirked down at her. "Well what can I do for the princess to receive her forgiveness?"

Kalya glowered at him. "Don't. Call. Me. Princess. You know I hate being called that!" she swatted at him with a wooden spoon and he dodged all of them.

Itachi only chuckled and leaned against the door frame that divided the kitchen from the other part of the garden that the boys were still playing in.

"You are so _irritating_!" she emphasized the last word with a growl and went back to cooking.

The two of them stood in silence. Itachi was watching his brother and Kalya was setting the table up. Sasuke bounded in and hid behind his nee-san's legs chuckling. Itachi raised an eyebrow at his younger brother as Naruto came in panting.

"Take…it…back…Sasuke… I… am… not... weird…" Naruto fell the floor with a light thump and continued to pant like a dog. Sasuke only grinned in triumph.

Kalya bit her bottom lip, not to laugh at how silly and adorable Naruto looked at the moment. She gently pried Sasuke off of her leg and patted his head, going back to the stove. Sasuke plopped down in front of Naruto and poked his cheek.

"Why are you so skinny?"

"Nobody feeds me…or gives me food…Except this guy at Ichiraku…" Naruto pondered.

Kalya froze. "You rarely eat?" Naruto nodded.

"But Iruka-sensei brings me food! Then somebody steals it from me saying I can't have it…"

Kalya looked at the three boys in the room. One skinny, small blonde, with blue eyes rare like her own, and three whisker-like scars on his each side of his cheeks, was without a friend. Another with raven locks that were still wild and onyx eyes had the extremely rare attention of his father and brother. And the last one with the same features as Sasuke except without the boyish face and with longer hair, tired, friendless, extremely prideful, rude, emotionless, too determined…ok the list went on for him. All of them wanted something that pretty much everyone else had. Well…except maybe Itachi…the boy wouldn't open up clearly and would let no one in on his feelings. Sighing, Kalya picked Naruto up and put him on the counter.

"Naruto? What do you want?" Kalya smiled at him.

"I want….I want a friend!" Naruto's fist shot up in the air and he flashed his baby teeth at her. Kalya chuckled; not the answer she was looking for to fill his stomach, but at least he was honest about wanting a friend.

Damn the Uchiha's and their stubbornness. She knew for a fact that Sasuke would never admit that, neither would Itachi. She glanced at him, he was staring into space. She wasn't exactly considered his friend, just a companion, but she chose to think she was his friend.

"And to be the greatest Hokage this village has every seen!" Now that grabbed Itachi's attention.

"Hmm… Hokage… Quiet a big dreamer aren't you?" She poked his stomach where she knew the center of the seal was. He squirmed and giggled.

"Why Hokage?" Itachi wondered aloud, as Sasuke stood up and pulled himself up on the other counter.

"Cause I want people to notice me!"

"Well Naruto? Don't you ever let go of that dream, promise me alright?" The sandy haired girl kissed his cheek and petted his hair. The boy blushed and he nodded his head vigorously.

Itachi noticed Sasuke staring at Naruto with slight jealousy in his eyes. Raising a questioning eyebrow he watched his younger brother as he moved swiftly in front of him. Sasuke didn't acknowledge him for he was continuing to stare at the laughing Naruto and Kalya, and that irritated his older brother. So, he was poked the poor boy hard on his forehead.

"OW! Nii-chan! What was that for!" Sasuke put a hand on his forehead and pouted.

"Are you jealous?" Itachi asked in a low whisper that only Sasuke was able to catch.

"What? Me? No nii-chan! Never!" Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Itachi who smirked.

"What?" Naruto looked at the both of them with a look of bewilderment.

Itachi shook his head and put a hand on Naruto's head. "Nothing you need worry about Naruto-kun…" and he left.

"Naruto-kun? I think he's trying a little too hard…"

Sasuke wrinkled his nose and jumped on Kalya's back. "Let's play nee-chan!" Naruto agreed with his proposal throwing his arms in the air and cheering.

"Well…"

"Kalya will not be able to play with you Sasuke…"

The three of them whirled their heads to the entrance of the kitchen.

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Mwahahaha! Cliffy! I hate them… but now I know why other authors use them…Makin' people suffer!XD J/k…that reason is for u to find out on ur own… there are several reasons for cliffys. Well… now I rest…after writing this chapter and re-reading is for mistakes and brainstorming ideas for the plot…. Yeah my brain needs rest. Please review:D 

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Dani:cough well…I got my very first flamer ever since I started writing fanfiction…which was in 2002 and I must say… I DON'T GIVE A DAMN! Another thing, I don't really care if u think this story is bullshit then, I really don't care what negative thoughts you have about me or this pairing. Now if it was to help me write better I'd happily accept it, though saying that this story is bullshit because it's yaoi and I'm gay I'ma just ignore you, this is just one that I'm not going to ignore since it's my first flame… I love positive thoughts of my story so keep the reviews coming!

Oh and quote from my friend: You dumb pieces of shit, if you don't like yaoi don't read!

Heh, she likes yaoi more than me…

Anyway….. Here's a notice for people who are as blind as hell and read and criticize anyway to make the author feel bad…

**IF YOU DON'T LIKE YAOI DO NOT READ AHEAD!**

Ok then….Back to the story!

Disclaimer: If only I could own Naruto… I'd be so very happy! Excuse I need to coddle my Kyuubi plushie and cry…

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Kalya made a sharp intake of air at the sight of Sasuke and Itachi's father standing in the door way. His arms crossed and his face held a look of great disgust and anger. The female in the room knew the disgust was mostly aimed at Naruto, but both were aimed at her. Nibbling on her bottom lip she pulled Sasuke off of her back and placed him on his feet, only to pick up Naruto and hold him close to her. 

"Uchiha-sama…I was just-" she winced at him cruelly interrupting her.

"Silence wench, do not talk when you have not been asked to," he shot her a deadly glare, making her shrink back into the counter.

Naruto and Sasuke looked back and forth at the eldest Uchiha and Kalya. Naruto had his arms wrapped tight around Kalya's neck. The man had the same look in his eyes like all the others who looked at him. But…it wasn't only directed at him. Why did the man do it to Kalya? She did nothing like he did nothing.

"Kalya… leave before I dispatch you and the brat myself…" The man snarled.

Naruto felt her gulp down what seemed to be her heart and she nodded stiffly, dragging her feet past him, keeping a cautious eye on him and walked down the hall to the door.

"Kalya?" Kalya's head turned to see Itachi and Sasuke. Itachi was staring at her with an 'I-told-you-so' look and Sasuke's was total bewilderment. "Where are you going?" the smaller of the two whispered.

"Um… just out for a while," She smiled apologetically at the boy and patted his head before slipping on her sandals.

"Kalya-chan?" Kalya looked up at Naruto. "Why was he looking at you like everyone else looks at me?"

Naruto could've sworn he saw anger flash through Itachi's eyes but shrugged it away, the whole time he has seen Itachi, the teen has never shown emotion..

"Er…I'm sorry Naruto I don't know… but I think its best we obey what he wants us to do." Grabs his sandals and opens the door.

"But you'll come back? Right nee-chan?" Sasuke asked, making the girl freeze.

"I don't know Sasuke… But if not, I'll see you after school ok?" she threw the boy a bright smile over her shoulder and looks at Itachi. "I'll see you at the meeting tomorrow!" She glanced at their father and hurriedly left.

Sasuke pouted and turned to spot his father, his arms still crossed at glaring at his brother.

"Father… was it necessary to call Kalya a wench?" Itachi asked without turning to look at his father.

"I have asked you to not bring that girl here countless times; she is nothing but trouble…" Sasuke sniffled.

"But Kalya's my nee-chan…"

"You will cease calling her that in my presence Sasuke…" With that he turned heel and left the brothers alone.

Sasuke looked up at his brother who was glaring daggers at his father's back. "Nii-san? Why doesn't father like nee-chan?"

Itachi looked down at his brother from the side of his eyes. "When you are older you will know…" And he left the little boy alone. Sasuke blinked and looked over his shoulder at the door and followed his brother.

Outside, Kalya was ignoring the stares that she got again. Naruto however could not. He saw them whispering to each other and could pick up a few words. He whimpered at a few of the cruel sayings and clung tighter to Kalya's neck.

"Just ignore them Naruto…we're almost out of here," Kalya patted his back reassuringly and walked a little faster.

After exiting the estate, the large door slammed right behind her. If she didn't know better, she'd say that Itachi's father had control of the door when he was inside the estate, no matter where he was. Sighing, she placed the blonde boydown and slipped his sandals on his small feet.

Naruto wrinkled his nose then rubbed it with his sleeve.

"You are so cute!" she petted him and watched him give her a foxy grin.

"Kalya…" Naruto looked up at the new voice that sounded more bored than Itachi's did. Another person towered over him and Kalya, who was rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. A light bulb flickered in Naruto's head. He had seen this man before…but where?

His silver hair was being ruffled by the wind's soft breeze, the head band, having the sign of the hidden leaf village carved in the center, covering his left eye and his right eye was looking lazily at her. Half of his face was covered by a black mask making Naruto very curious on how he looked without it.

Naruto blinked again and tilted his head. It was like they were speaking telepathically. Occasionally, the man's visible eye would look at her with disappointment, and she would glare at him before smiling sheepishly again. Now he knew where he saw the man before. Cautiously, he tugged his black pants. The silver-haired man looked down at him, the boy was happy that he didn't look at him with the angry glint that everyone else seemed to have.

"Hello…are you a friend of Iruka's?" Naruto asked tilting his head to the other side.

"Why…yes I am… you must be Naruto." Naruto nodded happily.

"I see you with Iruka a lot… plus he has a picture of you on his fridge, who are you?"

The man raised an eyebrow at the curious little blonde. "Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto smiled widely at him causing Kakashi to chuckle. "You're nicer than everybody else!"

"Yeah… now that we're done with intros, what does the Hokage want Kakashi-san?" Kalya rubbed the back of her neck with a wince, a trait that Kakashi always saw her do when she was nervous, angry, and uncomfortable, others would think she had a crick in her neck that was very tight.

"He would not tell, he only said to ask for you to meet him in his office," Kakashi answered.

"….Please don't tell me that message was an hour ago… cause you have a tendency to be late," that earned her a smack in the back of her head. "Hey…"

"No… I just received it a few minutes ago, now get…" Kakashi slipped his hands in his pockets and started to walk off.

"Oh… um, Kakashi-san? Is Iruka at home?" Naruto looked hopefully at Kakashi.

The jounin shrugged. "He could be at Ichiraku…I don't know."

Naruto jumped for joy and cheered. "I'ma ask Iruka for a bowl of ramen!" He shot his fist in the air and ran to Ichiraku, leaving at stunned Kalya and an amused Kakashi behind.

Stopping to catch his breath, he saw Iruka looking around, possibly for him. Smiling as bright as the sun he picked up his pants and walked the rest of the way to his most favorite place in the whole village, apart from the Hokage monument.

"Iruka!" the boy called. He recognized that face with the scar across his nose anywhere.

Iruka turned around and looked down at the little boy who was smiling up at him. The chuunin could not resist smiling back at the boy and picked him up to place him on the stool next to him. He chuckled at Naruto ordering a bowl of ramen with lots of energy. The man who ran the restaurant chuckled and patted Naruto's head before starting to cook the boy's bowl of miso ramen.

"So Naruto, what have you done while I was gone?" Iruka asked.

Naruto gave him a foxy grin. "I went to Sasuke's! His brother didn't say much but he seemed cool! Also I met this girl, her name was Kalya!"

That information grabbed Iruka's attention. Catching sight of Kalya was harder than catching sight of Kakashi or Itachi. He knew the girl from family ties but she graduated from the academy early, becoming a chuunin at 6 and a jounin at 9. She joined the ANBU a year later. At least that's what Kakashi told him.

"Kalya? Hm... Was she nice to you?" Iruka still wasn't sure of Kalya's behavior, one minute she was cruel and cold as a blizzard in the mountains, the next she was a sweet as candy, more information from his friend.

"Yup! She was gonna make us lunch but Sasuke's dad told us to leave," he clapped his hands when his bowl of miso ramen was placed in front of him. "She's real nice, I was gonna ask her to be my new friend! But your friend Kakashi came by telling her the old man wanted to see her."

Iruka listened to Naruto talk non-stop about Sasuke and Kalya. He nearly choked on his noodles from the laughter building up when Naruto was describing Kakashi. A few minutes and four bowls of ramen later, Naruto was looking sadly at his bowl, stirring it slowly.

"Naruto?" Iruka looked at him with great concern.

"How come… people look at me funny? Why do the call me monster? I didn't do anything…" Naruto sniffled.

Iruka smiled sadly and brought the underfed boy onto his lap and rubbed his back. "Shh Naruto, it's ok…" he let the boy cry silently on his shoulder. "What about your care taker? Doesn't she tell the Hokage?"

Naruto sniffled and rubbed his eyes. "She left weeks ago… She said she couldn't live with a monster…"

Iruka held the boy tighter. He suppressed the growl and the urge to hunt down the woman and knock some senses into her. Iruka didn't like her in the first place and offered to take in Naruto. But the Sandaime thought otherwise. Iruka blinked. Weeks ago…? Then Naruto was…

"You were alone this whole time?" Iruka nearly shouted that out.

Naruto nodded. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I…I didn't want to bother you or the old man… Besides! I can take care of myself!" And Naruto gained back his perkiness, and puffed out his chest.

"Oh really?" He poked the boy's stomach and felt his ribs poking out.

"Mm… Maybe?"

Iruka shook his head. For a little boy with a few things,he was really selfless sometimes. Smiling at Naruto who hoped down the stool and pulling at his flak jacket, wanting to show him something. The boy was so energetic that he was one of the things that exhausted Iruka greatly. After paying for the ramen, he let Naruto drag him to his apartment.

Once inside Iruka wrinkled his nose at the smell of rotten things. Naruto could not take care of himself… Sighing, he dusted dirt, dust, and papers off of the torn up couch and sat on it. Naruto scurried around, searching for what ever it is he was going to show Iruka. The brunette pulled his hair out of the rubber band holding it up and shook it free. Naruto froze and blinked at his teenage friend. Iruka would've laughed at how Naruto looking like a puppy that was curious at the new covered item its owners brought home. Naruto smiled and latched himself to the Chuunin's head and petted the hair.

"Gah! Naruto!" Iruka stared up wide eyed at the little blonde creature giggling like mad and running his tiny fingers through his hair.

"You're hair's soft!" Naruto nuzzled the top of Iruka's head and gently pulled at it.

"Erm… thank you Naruto, but weren't you going to show me something?" Iruka asked. He did not like people touching his hair, no matter how young or old they were.

"Oh yeah!"

The blonde bounced off throwing random things out of the way and muttering under his breath. The brunette watched as Naruto put things away without noticing it and continued to look for what ever he was looking for. Iruka had to duck a few oncoming items that somehow landed in their respective places.

The room was soon sparkling clean, save for a few dusty spots and juice spilled on the rug. Naruto was in the middle of said rug, cross legged, and his arms crossed over his chest. His countenance was between someone in thought and a child who did not get what he wanted. His chuunin friend raised an eyebrow at the boy's state and scratched his scarred nose.

"Where did I put it…" Naruto continued to pout, his fingers drumming against his arms. He then clapped his hands. "Oh yeah!" the boy raced to his room with Iruka behind him.

The blonde opened a drawer and pulled out a drawing with his chicken scratch handwriting in the upper right hand corner of the paper. The drawing was of a dolphin peaking over the water at a little orange fox who was sticking his paw in the water. Iruka smiled. The dolphin had a scar over his bottle nose and the fox had its own three scars over its cheek. Naruto gave his friend a toothy grin as the man took the picture to get a better look at it.

Iruka wanted to ask Naruto, why make himself a fox? But he thought about it. Perhaps Naruto actually liked foxes whether or not he knew if the Kyuubi was caged inside of his little body. Iruka continued to smile at Naruto and bent down to ruffle his wild hair.

"It's adorable Naruto, but why make yourself a fox?"

"Cause foxes are cool!" The little boy threw his fist in the air with his bright smile.

Iruka chuckled. "Yes, I suppose they are."

"Dolphins are cool too, but foxes are better!" with that Naruto stuck his tongue out at him.

The chuunin raised an eyebrow at the boy.

"Oh really?" Iruka picked up the boy who squealed and spun him around, careful not to bump his head on anything hard.

Naruto laughed as Iruka tossed him on the bed and sat on him. The boy squirmed, punched and pushed at the taller man. Iruka chuckled at the boy's attempts to get him off. It was always like this. They acted like orphan brothers who loved each other deeply. Iruka would push the boy around playfully, Naruto would tease him, pulling strings no one else could, and Naruto would come back asking to play again. The brunette provided him with breakfast, lunch and dinner occasionally, and praised him for everything he did, except for when he ruined something. Then Iruka would scold the boy like a father, but Naruto knew that Iruka would come back feeling guilty.

"Iruka! Get off!" laughed the boy under him.

"Say that dolphins are better and I will," Iruka crossed his arms and stared down at Naruto who continued his fruitless attempts to get free.

"But foxes are better!" Naruto yelled.

Iruka had a mischievous look on his face. He jumped up and sat back on Naruto who let out a loud cough.

"Ok ok! Dolphins are better! Dolphins rule the animals!" Iruka smiled and got off the poor boy who tried to catch his breath. "They're too big… like you..."

Iruka chuckled and he ruffled the boy's hair and sat on the edge of the bed, watching the little boy's energy slowly fade away. "Tired already?"

"Uh-uh! I could go on forever!" and Naruto jumped on his head beating at it with a pillow. "Kyah!"

Iruka chuckled and pried the crazy child off of his head and tossing the pillow to the side. "You are a bit too wild, Naruto." Iruka started to tickle the boy, who squirmed and laughed.

After placed the tired boy on the couch to catch his breath, Iruka went to answer the door that was knocked on several times about two minutes earlier. The raps on the poor door were getting harder. The brunette scrambled to the door and quickly opened it. His eyes widened at who stood before him.

"Hokage-sama! I apologize but…" Iruka looked at the blond on the couch who tilted his head to the side.

The third smiled at Iruka. "No need to apologize, I suspect that Naruto was keeping you busy?"

"Yes sir I-"

"Hey old man!" Naruto ran between Iruka's legs and hugged the Sandaime tight.

Sarutobi chuckled and patted Naruto's hair and walked inside. "What are you doing here?"

Iruka was about to tell Naruto to watch what he says to the hokage but the hokage shook his head. "I just came to check on you and ask why you chose not to tell me or Iruka that your caretaker left weeks ago." Naruto pouted and crossed his arms.

"How did you find out? I just told Iruka today..."

"A wolf told me," Sarutobi sat down on the arm chair and dusted off a few crumbs of crackers. "So I ask again, why did you not tell me or Iruka the day your caretaker left?"

Naruto bent his head and looked another way. "I didn't want to bother you… besides… she was the t-t-twenty- ei-eighth person that left me… at least she didn't hit me like the others did before she left."

Naruto even tried to be nice to those caretakers. But they only glared at him and threw or tore up what ever he gave them to tell them thank you. He'd rather be alone, like he always was. Where ever he went people moved away from him, children would tease him and push him around, the children who did try to be friends with him were pulled away by the parents. It's alright, he could be alone, and he didn't want the old man to worry about him when he had a whole village to take care of.

He looked up at Iruka who was talking to Sarutobi about placing him under the chuunin's wings. Biting his bottom lip he looked out the window where birds were flying happily and twittering away. He wondered what it was like. To be free from everything, having no boundaries roughly shoved in front of him. He'd fly to the place that was heaven to him, where he wasn't shunned away and supplied with friends who would play with him and be with him. Naruto sighed. Maybe he would be reincarnated into one? Hopefully…

"Naruto!" The blond jumped at the sound of his name being called and blinked up at Iruka.

"Er, sorry," Naruto laughed apologetically and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin.

"Naruto, you can not stay alone at this age," Sarutobi said with a warm smile.

"Yes I can! I'm doing fine!" the boy stomped his foot on the ground and stared up at his elders.

"Not from where we're standing," Iruka mumbled with his rubber band between his teeth as he pulled his hair in his usual ponytail.

Naruto grumbled something under his breath as he looked another way, his little arms crossed.

"Naruto understand this, we care about you and want what is best for you…" Sarutobi looked at the little boy before him.

He felt he was failing the Yondaime's wish. In front of him stood a boy of six who was the height of a four year old and possibly weighed as much as a two year old. The Yondaime wished for the boy to be seen as a hero but only those who knew what truly happened saw him as one, and that was few. Sarutobi had to smile though. Iruka had told him Naruto's reason for not telling either of them for three weeks exactly. Selfless yes, but it was his job to be sure that Naruto was alright, he was a hero who was still very young. Sarutobi stood and dusted his robes.

"Alright Naruto… You can be alone, but Iruka will come by every now and then to make sure you are well. If you aren't, I'm giving you a new caretaker, and this time Iruka will choose." The third was pushed back into the armchair by the blond ball of energy that yelled his thank you's and hugged him tight.

The aging man chuckled and patted Naruto's head once more. Iruka too was smiling as he pried the hyperactive child off of their leader and held him.

"Well, I have things to attend to, be well Naruto, and I will see you some time soon Iruka," and the third left with a smile.

Naruto said his good bye and jumped out of Iruka's grasp and slipped on his sandals.

"Where are you going Naruto?" Iruka wondered aloud.

"Outside, wanna come?" The boy gave him a toothy grin.

Iruka shook his head and they left together. Naruto skipped ahead of Iruka, enjoying the feeling of the air in his hair and caressing his face. He still received his daily glares but he felt a hell of a lot safer with Iruka behind him. The blond child stopped to stare at a child that was trying to reach for an apple on a stand. Naruto smiled and walked up to the child. The little boy with big brown eyes and messy light brown hair who looked younger than Naruto's actual age stared at him.

Naruto smiled and grabbed an apple, giving it to the young boy who grinned happily and thanked him. Naruto's smile grew as the little boy ran off munching on his bright red apple. The smile was wiped off of his face as he was jerked off of the ground by his wrist. Before him was a beefy man who was red in the face. Naruto whimpered and pulled at the large hand that had his wrist in a death like grip.

"You dirty little thief!" he bellowed in his face. "I will show you not to steal from me you little freak!"

"I…I'm sorry, but I have money…" Naruto reached in his pocket and pulled at the exact amount for just one apple.

The man stared at the little hand that held the money and he shook Naruto roughly, causing him to drop his money.

"I would expect the monster to steal money from someone, who did you steal that from? Huh?" Naruto whimpered more at the harsh words. Naruto had earned that money…

"I'm sorry," Naruto repeated over and over again.

"Damned monster, I will not take anything from your dirty hands, the hands that will be soaked in this village's blood!"

Naruto cried out and shut his eyes tight knowing a punch was about to come. But…it didn't. Slowly opening a cerulean eye he saw the man five times his size quivering like a bowstring that was just strung. Pressed against his thick neck was a shiny sharp kunai knife. Naruto followed the lightly sun tanned arm that held the kunai and met the cold blue rainbow eyes of the girl he met not too long ago. Naruto gulped. That disgusted look… he knew it all too well, but for once, it was not for him. Kalya's expression lightened when she noticed Naruto looked at her, but they hardened as she averted her gaze back to the man before her.

"People like you disgust me more than anything in this world. Harming a child who did nothing…"

"H-he stole from me!" The man stuttered out.

"He had the money, why did you not take it?" She hissed through her teeth. "Put Naruto down and I'll rethink about slitting your throat and feeding your body to a pack of wolves."

Shaking, the man placed Naruto on his feet and released his wrist. Naruto whimpered at the throbbing pain his wrist was going through and ran to Iruka who had his hand on the holster that held his shurikens. Iruka pulled the boy behind his legs and watched as Kalya whispered something to the man in a seemingly deadly voice. Pushing him out of her way roughly, she looked over her shoulder at Naruto. He was a bit shaken. Giving him her heartwarming smile, she vanished.

Naruto sniffled and clung to Iruka's leg. The nineteen year old looked down at the child and bent down and rubbed his back.

"I'm sorry Naruto…but…Something…" Iruka looked at the spot Kalya stood and knew what happened. "Someone stopped me from doing anything."

"I-it's ok…" The child wrapped his arms around Iruka's neck and the two of them walked to the park.

* * *

OMG! Reviews! YAY:D 

Thank you so freaking much for the reviews: butterfreak, Tandakku, Goddess'of'Soulz, darkmoon0829!

Keep those reviews coming please! I'd love to hear others POSITIVE thoughts, and constructive ones (makes me a better writer). More reviews motivate me!


	3. Chapter 3

Dani: YAY! People love the D!

Shicora: -raise eyebrow- right… please read and review…

Dani: No flames and constructive criticism is greatly welcomed. Oh! And thank you Gold Silk, natures candy! For noticing my mistakes and telling me –sweat drop- Got kinda embarrassed that I put those and didn't notice them after rereading that chapter over and over again…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto but I do own Kalya!

* * *

It has been a week since Naruto had last seen Kalya. He searched as much of the village as he could (people were shooing people away from their homes too many times.) and found no trace. So here he was in the academy, his head being cradled by his arms as his teacher ranted on about the history of this village. Next to him was Sasuke who was also having his head being cradled by his arms, but his ears were perked up and his eyes glued on the teacher. Naruto smiled. 

Even though he could not find Kalya, Sasuke had become friendlier with him through the whole past week. He moved his seat to next to Naruto's and the two of them goofed around when the teacher wasn't around, or when Sasuke was done with his worksheet and Naruto copied his. Sasuke was starting to teach Naruto how to throw shurikens better and he gave him boxed lunches that his mother made for him (Naruto didn't know that Sasuke had to tell his mother that he had a friend who rarely ate because no one took care of him. He knew what his mother would do if he said his friend was Naruto).

Naruto yawned and buried his head further in his arms and stared at the table darkened by his shadow. The girls of his class weren't exactly happy when he moved away from their 'circle of love'. All their hatred was then turned to Naruto. In school, Naruto didn't mind, because he had Sasuke to back him up. The little blonde looked up at Sasuke, who waspoking his hand with a sharp pencil, and glared at him.

'What?' he mouthed.

'When was the last time you pulled a prank?' Sasuke had written on a piece of paper in his neat hand writing.

'Two weeks… you never liked my pranks anyway!' Naruto made a little smiley at the end of his sentence and stuck his tongue out at Sasuke who glared at him.

'Well… they were kind of funny… Can't you do something to lighten up the mood? Everyone is falling asleep.'

Naruto blinked then looked around, the truth has been written. The girls were no longer glaring at him but snoring quietly and drooling on the table. They could've been mistaken for boys from far away the way they were sleeping in class. The boys were also sleeping, some tried to stay awake, or look like they were paying attention by holding their face up.

'No… it's nap time!' Naruto smiled at his raven haired friend and buried his face back in his arms.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Naruto. Naruto never turned down an offer to pull a prank. The onyx eyed boy look at their teacher and placed his foot on a leg of Naruto's chair. Counting to five, he gave the leg a rough push.

"GAH!" Naruto exclaimed as he fell out of his chair and knocked into Kiba's chair.

Sasuke watched with a laughing smile as the others became a dominos. The racket caused others to jump and knock others over. And Sasuke could not handle the laughter building up in his throat. He loved his funny blonde friend.

"Ow…" Naruto rubbed the back of his head and winced at the feeling of a bump coming on… He raised his head and glared deadly at Sasuke who was clutching his stomach and had tears of laughter coming out of his eyes. "Uchiha Sasuke! I call for revenge!" And Naruto tackled the laughing Uchiha.

The two of them rolled around bumping into others. The play fight soon turned into a full out dog pile… with poor Naruto on the bottom and the proud Sasuke on top of all the others smiling.

"Uzumaki!" Their teacher hollered and stomped to the pile. "You will stay here after school doing more worksheets! How dare you interrupt my teachings?"

Naruto pouted and glared up and Sasuke who was looking down at him with an apologetic smile. "Thanks a lot Sasuke…"

After class, everyone left while Naruto stayed behind, reading and writing answers that he had a very hard time finding in the tattered book he was using. The blonde glanced every now and then at the clock, he had to stay behind for an hour, and only forty-three minutes had passed. The small boy groaned and banged his head lightly on the table. Curse Sasuke for making him the fool of the class today. He will get his revenge one day! Naruto still continued on and smiled when he finished his sentence. Now he had… twelve more questions to go!

Whining, Naruto pulled at his hair. His teacher would take big points off of his grade if he didn't finish all of them! Naruto blinked at the sound of his name being quietly called from the door. His gaze averted to the entrance and there he saw Sasuke smiling and waving. Naruto waved back and stared at Sasuke forming simple hand seals.

In front of him was a list of answers to his worksheet. In the right hand corner was a little message.

'Onee-chan just taught me this! Now hurry up so we can leave!' Naruto nodded vigorously at the door and scribbled down the answers on his paper.

Naruto balled the paper Sasuke gave him and pocketed it before standing up and handing the teacher his paper. "Here ma'am…"

His teacher stared at him disapprovingly then snatched the paper away from him and rudely waved him out. "Leave, you nuisance…"

Naruto bowed, grabbed his bag and scurried out, tackling his friend who rolled out of his grasp. "That was mean Sasuke!" He yelled out and chased the Uchiha out of the building.

Sasuke giggled then let out an, 'oomph!' when he came in contact with hard legs. He blinked then looked up to see his older brother. Sasuke gave him a happy smile.

"Hey onii-san!" Itachi raised an eyebrow at him then nodded.

"Ow! Naruto!" Sasuke swatted at Naruto after the blonde and crashed into him and attacked him.

"I CALLED FOR REVENGE AND I SHALL HAVE IT!" Naruto hollered and continued to attack the brunette.

The two of them froze at the sound of laughter and looked up to see a sandy haired girl standing where Itachi once was. Naruto's smile grew tenfold when he saw those rare and familiar warm blue eyes and heart shaped face.

"Onee-chan!" Sasuke hugged her legs while Naruto latched himself to her neck.

"Well! You two seem happy to see me," Kalya giggled, and petted both of their heads then detaching the six year olds from her slightly toned body.

"We are, we are!" Naruto bounced up and down on the balls of his feet and almost purred at Kalya petting him again.

The twelve year old girl crouched down to their height and continued to smile at the two of them.

"Where have you been onee-chan?" Sasuke asked and gripped a piece of hair loose from her ponytail.

"I was on a mission, Itachi was supposed to come but his cold rear was too afraid," Kalya snickered with the other two and was hit on the head by a heavy book. "Hey! Itachi!"

Itachi only glared at his partner and companion before tossing the book on the grass floor next to Sasuke. "Don't fill their heads with such nonsense... Father wanted me to do something more useful…"

"Oh… and what I did was useless? I'll have you know it was an A-ranked mission!" Kalya was standing on her feet pointing a finger at Itachi and glaring at him.

Naruto stared wide eyed at the older people while Sasuke looked at them like it was a daily thing that happened. "Do they always do this?" Naruto whispered to him. His friend nodded.

"It's funny when Kalya gets angry at onii-san." Sasuke said, perching himself on the grass. Naruto said an inaudible "o" and sat next to Sasuke.

The teens went on, Kalya was loud and Itachi was calm. But you could easily tell he was getting irritated and was itching to shut Kalya up. They reminded Naruto of this couple that always comes to the park with their child. They seemed to get along great then all of a sudden would argue very loudly and bitterly. Their child toldhim they did that all the time, but always loved each other. He said they were a bitter old couple before his parents dragged him away with the usual glare sent to the Uzumaki.

"They fight like a bitter old couple!" Naruto said, folding his hands behind his head and his eyes turned into crescents.

Kalya and Itachi stopped their argument and stared at the little scarred blonde. Kalya's cheeks heated up and she glanced away from Itachi who looked like he was laughing inside. Sasuke however, was confused and tilted his head to the side.

"But they're not a couple…"

"Oh! This kid told me it; he said it was a saying that you should say when two people, mostly friends, who fight all the time…" Naruto blinked at Kalya. "Kalya-chan? Why is your face all red?"

"Eep!" Kalya's cupped her face and turned her back to the two Uchiha's and the Uzumaki. "I-It's not red Naruto! You're imagining things…"

"But onee-chan… it is red… are you sick?" Sasuke's voice was laced heavily with worry.

"No, no! I'm not sick; it's just…well…that is…" Itachi had a large smirk on his face. "Dammit, Itachi! Wipe that smirk off of you're face!"

Naruto blink. "You're acting funny Kalya-chan." The boy hopped up and tugged her pants getting her to look down at him. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Well, not really…" Kalya glanced at Itachi then buried her face in her hands before bringing it up without a trace of red. "So… who wants dinner?"

"I do!" Sasuke and Naruto yipped in unison, Kalya chuckled.

"Before we do, let's go to the lake, just to rest for a bit… School must've worn you two out," Kalya stretched.

The four of them walked to the lake. Naruto chased Sasuke around during their walk; he could barely feel the heated gazes from the other people walking around. Something about being around these three people made him feel safer than he was with Iruka. Especially since Kalya saved him from that large man and Sasuke was his first real friend. And Itachi… well… He wasn't so sure about Itachi, he barely knew the teen cause he rarely spoke to him.

At the lake, Naruto made a cannibal into the cold water after tossing his black shirt off and giving a loud hoot of joy. The boy didn't even shiver at the cold contact that his warm flesh made with the cold water. He floated atop the water, letting out a happy sigh.

"Come on you guys! They water's great!"

Kalya smiled sheepishly and shook her head. "No thanks Naruto, I'll just nap until it's time for dinner…" Kalya jumped in a tree and hung limply from her branch like a lazy tiger.

Itachi only shook his head and sat under the tree staring off into space. Sasuke however was poking his toe in the water. "It's freezing!"

"It shouldn't be as cold as the floor in your home!" Naruto replied and dove under water, coming back up for air and to grab Sasuke's leg. "Going down!" he pulled Sasuke into the lake and swam away.

Sasuke came up gasping for air and waddling to the bank; he shivered and stared at the water like it was evil thing that need to be rid off. Naruto laughed. Sasuke looked just like a cat who was escaping from his bath. In the blonde's mind, Sasuke had a pair of drooping black cat ears, and a sagging wet black tail. Sasuke shivered again and moved away from the water.

"Sasuke's a black scaredy cat!" Naruto laughed. Sasuke froze and looked over his shoulder with a death glare.

"I am not scared!" Sasuke stomped his foot.

"Yes you are! You acted like a cat who doesn't like water!"

Sasuke's cheeks puffed and reddened a little as Naruto pointed and laughed at him. The little boy in the lake swam around smiling his foxy grin at the glaring mini Uchiha.

"I'm not a scaredy cat!"

Naruto smiled slyly at his friend. "Prove it." And Sasuke did, nearly scaring the blonde to death and drowning him.

Kalya shook her head at Naruto. A little boy so full of energy befriending an Uchiha seemed almost impossible to the elders. Naruto reminded her so much of herself, no matter what ranked ninja she was, genin, chuunin, jounin, or Anbu, she was always childish, always smiling and laughing and joking around. Itachi was the only Uchiha to see past her mask that hardened when she didn't remember her past but only a massacre that happened. Kalya let a bit of sadness seep out of said mask. She could never be like Itachi… keeping things bottled up for so long that you would appear normal… Well, in Itachi's case, normal for an Uchiha.

Kalya looked down at Itachi who appeared to be sleeping, only then did she let a true smile come out. Itachi was one of her extremely true friends. The others were scattered searching for her brother for a task that needed to be done, soon. So she clung to Itachi because he accepted her for who and what she was. She did not cling to him because he was handsome and powerful (like most of the women in Konoha did). Snapping a twig from her branch, she poked Itachi's head.

No reaction.

Poke.

…

Poke. Poke.

…A small grunt, followed by a giggle.

Poke. Poke. Poke. Snap.

"Will you stop that… it is highly annoying…" Itachi growled out, yanking the broken twig from her hand and tossing it aside. Kalya pouted.

"But Itachi!" she whined.

"You are not a child anymore, so stop acting like one…"

"And you're not an adult yet, so stop acting like one," she snapped back.

Kalya giggled at feeling Itachi's glare directed at her. "Oh come now! It's the truth and you know it!" Kalya leaned against the trunk of her branch and listened to the little ones' laughter. She enjoyed the cool breeze that gently caressed her skin and the-

"OW! ITACHI!" … loudness of her screech.

Kalya held her head that Itachi had hit intentionally hard with a larger branch. She could feel his laughing smirk behind her and whimpered. "You're so mean Itachi!"

"Stop whining… It's annoying…" Itachi tossed the branch down and sat down on her branch. Kalya's eye twitched.

"Get out of my tree!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"No."

"I'll bite you!"

"…"

Naruto and Sasuke's splashing fun was interrupted by more of Kalya's screeches and the tree shaking. Naruto and Sasuke looked at it funny before climbing out of the water, dripping wet, and walked under the tree. Naruto's arms hugged his stomach as laughter erupted from his mouth. Sasuke's hands covered his mouth as the same laughter was building up. The sight before them was funny! Kalya was hanging upside down, her arms and legs tied to the branch. She was squirming around at the snakes and bugs crawling all over her stomach.

"ITACHI! This is low!" Kalya whimpered and squirmed as Itachi stared down at her with his evil laughing smirk. "I swear! I will get you for this! Itachi get the bugs off! I hate these kinds of bugs!"

"Onee-chan looks like a fish," Sasuke snickered.

Kalya growled and struggled more. "You can get out of it... it should be simple…" Itachi drawled out.

Kalya glared up at him then let out a louder growl, cutting the rope. "AH!" There was a loud thud and the six year olds were staring at Kalya who was squealing and rubbing the bugs off of her stomach. "Ow… man that hurt…"

Itachi snorted and crossed his arms. "Weakling…"

"What did you say!" Kalya raised a fist to the oldest of the four.

"He said weakling," Naruto said, jumping on her back and pulling a water beetle out of Kalya's hair, feeling her body shake with her loud growl.

"Onee-chan, Onii-san is jealous," Sasuke said and jumped on her back right next Naruto.

"What did you say Sasuke?" Itachi's voice drawled out deadly.

"Nothing!"

"Itachi's evil isn't he you guys?" Kalya pulled the two boys off of her back and hugged them.

They nodded their little heads and the three of them ran around, Itachi sleeping on the branch. They played tag, hide-and-seek (they were a bit angry they could never find Kalya), mission of a ninja, and poison. Kalya and Naruto were still laughing and playing around while Sasuke was leaning against the trunk panting and wondering how the two could go on.

"Ahahahaha!" Naruto's laugh echoed in the peaceful area and brought a large smile to Kalya's face. He was just so damn adorable… it was unforgivable that he had to live a life with hatred and pain.

Itachi looked over his shoulder and noticed it was dusk, time to leave and feed three mouths. The Uchiha jumped down from his perch and waited for the Uzumaki boy to run in front of him, which didn't take very long… Naruto gave a surprised squeak when Itachi grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted him effortlessly off the ground.

"It's time to go Kalya," said Itachi.

"Aw, but Itachi," she began.

"It's dusk, we have to feed them," Naruto giggled and removed himself from Itachi's grasp and glomping Sasuke who was picking up his shirt.

"I get dinner!" Naruto cheered and hugged Sasuke tight who was laughing and trying to pry Naruto's arms off of his neck.

"Naruto! I can't breathe!" Naruto released his friend and dancing around, throwing his fist up in the air and chanting, "Din-ner! Din-ner!"

Kalya picked up the boys shirt and slipped it on him taking both Sasuke and Naruto's small hands in her own. The three of them ran, or rather Naruto pulled and Kalya and Sasuke were being dragged, while Itachi walked behind them, emotionless as ever. They reached a cute little restaurant and seated themselves at a table.

Naruto and Sasuke were playing their fourth round of rock, paper, scissors as Kalya was talking to Itachi about missions they had been on together. Naruto kept whining when Sasuke won a round and stuck his tongue at him, calling him a loser and Kalya would tap Sasuke cheek hard, telling him not to call Naruto a loser just because he was winning.

They ordered their dinner just as the restaurant was getting crowded. Sasuke noticed the waiter being uneasy when she came and asked for Naruto's order, and that nobody was sitting at the tables surrounding them. Every time somebody was going to sit at one of the tables, they'd glance at Naruto then hurriedly try to find another vacant table.

Sasuke knew that everyone else at the table noticed it, but they all chose to say nothing. The onyx eyed boy glanced at Naruto who looked like all the happiness that he was expressing earlier was zapped out of him.

The tension in the restaurant was so thick that anyone who entered could taste it. People would look over their shoulder and whisper to one another after turning their gazes back to their family and friends. Little Sasuke wondered, was there something wrong with one of them?

Were people afraid of Itachi? Or Kalya? Sasuke got a lot of attention for being so cute and an Uchiha, so he didn't understand why they were moving away from them. Could it be…Naruto? No. It couldn't be! Naruto was a kind loving boy, who would be afraid of him?

Skeptically, Sasuke poked Naruto's cheek, grabbing the little blonde's saddened attention. Sasuke had never seen Naruto this sad.

"Is something wrong, Naruto?" he asked.

Naruto flashed him a grin, "No, Sasuke, nothing is wrong! Why do you ask?"

Sasuke's gaze looked around them, people were pointing, and whispering, and it seemed to affect Naruto's attitude. "Ah, never mind."

The four of them ate their dinner in silence. Sasuke and Naruto so badly wanted to leave because of the uneasiness in the room. They didn't like it one bit. And the teens in front of them could tell.

"Are you two finished?" asked Kalya.

The six year olds nodded their heads vigorously. They needed to get out! It was getting difficult to breathe. Kalya nodded and placed the money for their food on the table. The Uchihas and Kalya stood, waiting for Naruto to stand. But he couldn't. He was frozen in his seat from fear and sadness. He could hear them… He could hear every word they were saying. It made his poor ears bleed and his eyes sting from the tears building up in the back of them.

He knew they were pointing at him… He knew they were whispering about him… He knew they were trying to keep their distance from him and try to enjoy their meal. Everything in the room tormented him, mocked him. He wanted to go, but something was stopping him, and he didn't know what.

"Naruto…" The boy jumped slightly at the soft hand on his shoulder.

He stared at the soft caring face of Kalya with bloodshot eyes. "I want to go…" he croaked. "I want to go onee-chan…" Naruto whimpered and latched himself tightly to her neck, his little body racked with his sobs.

Kalya rubbed his back to mollify him and picked him up. She too heard the people whispering about him, and they pained her ears as well. She sent her deadliest glare at them all, feeling her eyes change from rare blue, to a red violet color and her pupils becomingangry silts.

"Let's go Itachi," she growled out, feeling the tension in the room grow tenfold as she turned heel and left the room, anger radiating off of her.

Itachi nodded and took his little brother's hand. He had gotten a taste of Kalya's anger once, and was actually afraid of her. He wanted that kind of power that made the other Anbu and the third Hokage quake in their boots. He was able to sense everyone's fear that day she lost control after the massacre. It took so many Anbu's to try and control her and the only ones that could calm her down was the legendary sannin Jiraiya and the fourth Hokage.

Itachi was never sure what she was. Several times he thought that she too had a demon caged within her. But the Yondaime and Sandaime told him his thoughts were wrong. She was a special girl that came from a hidden clan from the village hidden in the waterfall, they told him. That too made him wonder: why was she here in the leaf village, if she came from the waterfall? Why was she being raised their way and not her village's way?

He shrugged off his questions and continued to walk. He heard Naruto's sobs becoming louder and louder and they were starting to annoy him while they worried Sasuke. Kalya was doing what a real mother would do to their crying child: Whisper loving and soothing things to him and pet his soft wild golden locks. She didn't mind the tears pouring from his eyes and staining her shirt. She just wanted him to be alright.

Kalya looked up at the apartment that Kakashi said was Naruto's. It was a bit rundown but still in pretty good shape. She looked over her shoulder, her eyes long ago turned back to their original color and smiled at the two Uchihas.

"You two go, I'm sure your mother is worried about you Sasuke," said Kalya.

Sasuke nodded and Itachi pulled him away from the building. "Bye Naruto…"

Naruto lifted his head from the shoulder he found very comforting. His eyes were red and puffy and tears were coming down in waterfalls. The boy sniffled and waved good-bye to Sasuke. His throat hurt. He didn't want to pain it any more.

Kalya sighed and reached for the keys in Naruto's pocket and pushed open the door after unlocking it. The keys landed with a noisy clank on the kitchen table after she turned on the lights. She let out a small smile at the mess that the living room and the kitchen were in. She was like this when she started living by herself. Using her nose, she found Naruto's room which wasn't as messy as the others.

The sandy haired girl picked out a set of pj's for Naruto and tried to detach the boy from her neck.

"Naruto, baby I need you to let go," she whispered to him.

Naruto obliged and let the girl place him on his feet. He sniffled as she removed his shoes, his khaki cargo shorts and black shirt and replaced them with warm clean blue stripped pj's. The boy sniffled and rubbed his nose as she picked him up and kissed his forehead.

"Hey, you ok?" she asked.

The blonde nodded stiffly and whimpered a little bit as she tucked him to bed. Kalya smiled and petted his head. "Don't worry; nothing's going to hurt you tonight." And she began to sing him a lullaby that her mother used to sing to her.

Usually, lullaby's made Naruto want to get up and complain that he wasn't tired; he'd bounce around and laugh. But this lullaby…was so soothing, so…something. He could not stop his eyes from drooping close and he let out a soft yawn before falling asleep.

* * *

Dani: YAY! Another chapter done! Hip hip hooray! 

Thank you natures candy, Gonrie, Shadow Kitsune67, darkmoon0829, Neji-kun-naruto, and Gold Silk for the encouraging and fabulous reviews that I love! SQUEE!

Please read and review!


	4. Chapter 4

Kew… I feel so loved…-silly dramatic scene- well, I was definitely motivated! Thank you so much for the reviews people! I re-read all my chapters and noticed a few -cougacouglotcough- mistakes and fixed them. I'm so ashamed of myself that I didn't see them… I swear! I need a beta reader… but my stupid e-mail won't work yet… Have to wait for daddy to fix that, my printer/scanner, and make my tablet work. Yes your cheap somewhat lazy author draws, animals at least… not very good with anime –sweat drop- But I'm working on it! Kinda distracted by this story and my other original stories...

OK! Enough of my ramble… Time for the story!

**Warnings**: Shounen-ai peoples! Don't like it then don't read it! Also, child abuse… I hate myself for doing it… but I must.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto but I do own Kalya and Reno!

* * *

Blue birds twittered happily outside of a rundown apartment. Children were running around it laughing and smiling since there were no classes at the Ninja Academy today. Adults were awake and opening their shops and smiling at familiar faces that passes by. Some were cautiously looking around, looking for an extremely familiar face that they feared and hated. But Naruto wasn't around…and didn't plan to leave his home any time soon this fine warm summer day. 

The blonde boy was still asleep as the sun gracefully moved to the middle of the clear blue sky. The sun shined through his window hours ago but did not wake him. He was dreaming peacefully and didn't want anyone to wake him. A large happy smile was on his baby face and his arms were hugging a bright orange fox tightly.

In his dream, he was surrounded by a family… His mother and father… People he knew were watching over him. He knew they were his parents, even though he had never seen them before. His mother was beautiful. Her long brown hair was being whipped around by the warm wind. Her eyes were a bright green color with a touch of blue, her skin as soft as a baby's and her embraces warm like blazing fire on a cold day. Naruto's face was buried in her bosom as she sang to him. Her voice was like the wind singing harmoniously with the nature it petted everyday.

His father had his arm around his mother. The soft smiling expression on his handsome face made Naruto much happier. He was the exact older replica of Naruto, with the same blue eyes that you could drown in and blonde hair as bright as light. His rough large hands caressed Naruto's face, and the boy leaned in the comforting hand.

His mother whispered his name and kissed the top of his head.

"Mommy… Daddy…" he murmured and hugged his father's neck.

Please don't end… I'm so happy…

Were his exact thoughts. Someone didn't hit him. Someone didn't fear him… Someone loved him deeply. Someone made him happy.

"Naruto!" Naruto's ears perked up at the sound of a familiar voice.

His face left his father's neck and stared at the distant black haired boy calling his name mournfully. It was Sasuke… Why was he calling his name? More importantly, what was he doing here? He had a family… He had thousands who loved him. He had thousands who didn't fear him. A pang of jealousy hit his chest hard. Sasuke had everything he wanted…

"Naruto!"

Admiration from his elders, a family, a fan club… Why were they even friends...?

Sasuke whispered his name sadly and rubbed his eyes.

Oh yeah… They wanted to be friends… They didn't care they were so different…

Naruto jumped out of his mother's embrace and ran to his friend who was sniffling and rubbing his eyes.

"Sasuke!" He called out.

His raven haired friend looked up with red puffy eyes. The blonde pounced on him, rubbing their cheeks together and smiling big like he was earlier. "I won't leave you Sasuke! I promise!"

Behind him his parents smiled happily and hugged each other. Their baby was doing fine without their real protection…

…

Naruto woke up drowsily. He let out a loud yawn and rubbed his eyes. That was the best dream he has had in years. The Uzumaki sat up and stretched his arms to the sky, the smileplastered on his face. He promised he wouldn't leave Sasuke… that was a promise he was going to keep.

The little boy blinked and looked down in his lap. The cute little fox he was hugging while he was asleep was staring up at him with small black button eyes. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He never had this plushie before…he never had a plushie period… His smile came back and he hugged the plushie tight, nuzzling his face to its furry body.

The boy crawled out of bed, his new fox plushie being held firmly but gently in his arms. There was a fresh delicious aroma coming from the kitchen that made Naruto's stomach growl quite loudly. He cautiously peeked his head in his kitchen. There was Kalya, cooking and humming a tune while stirring something in the black pot.

Naruto sniffed the air and subconsciously moved towards the scent that he was addicted to at the moment. Nothing ever smelling this good in his house! What was it that was so deliciously mouth watering? He snapped back into reality when he walked into Kalya's legs. She blinked and looked down at the little boy who looked up at her with a toothy grin.

"I get breakfast?" He asked, pointing to himself.

Kalya giggled. "You silly little boy, you slept on breakfast, this is lunch." She reached over the counter where paper bags were scattered, along with utensils, bowls, opened boxes and chopped up vegetables for a bag filled with salt.

Naruto tilted his head. "It's lunch?"

"Yes, you must've had too much of a good dream to let it end early," Kalya petted his head.

"Yup! My mom and dad were in it! They hugged me and kissed me and didn't say anything mean to me!" Naruto bounced around. What child wouldn't bounce around after dreaming of their deceased parents hugging them? The little blonde who was so blinded with happiness that he ended up tripping over his feet.

Kalya went into a laughing fit as Naruto blushed cherry red and picked himself up. He heard her choke out 'silly boy' and smiled sheepishly.

"Oh! Kalya-chan! Did you get me this?" He held up his orange fox to her.

"Yes I did, I went out to get some things to cook breakfast," she nodded at the mess on the counter and the other bags on the table. "I had to get a few things for you! You have nothing in your fridge or the cabinets so I thought I'd get them for you. And I saw that fox in a store, it was so cute so I had to get it!"

Naruto cheered and hugged her legs tight. "Thank you onee-chan!"

Kalya continued her cooking while Naruto was on the floor drawing pictures and making sure his fox plushie was safe in his lap. Naruto looked up at Kalya, trying to imagine what animal she could be…

A fox too? No… She was playful like him, but she didn't trick anyone like he did. A rabbit? Mm… She wasn't quiet like them. A cat? Hehehe… no, Sasuke was his cat. His black scaredy cat! A bird? No. A dog of some sort? Naruto tilted his head.

A dog, most likely… She was loyal, trustworthy, and energetic… Maybe he should draw her like the dog that Kiba always had around! …No… That didn't fit her… Some wild dog like his fox…

"Whatcha doin' Naruto?" Kalya had taken a small break from her cooking to look at what Naruto was drawing.

"Mm... trying to find an animal that fits you… You're hard onee-chan!" Naruto pouted and crossed his arms over his chest.

Kalya giggled and glanced at the drawings scattered all over the floor. There were drawings of a light blue dolphin, a black weasel, a black cat, and an orange fox. She giggled at the one with the fox biting the cat's tail and the cat's hair was on end. She read the little hand writing in the corners on the single animal pictures. The dolphin had 'Iruka', the weasel had 'Itachi', the cat had 'Sasuke', and the fox had 'Naruto'.

"I can't think straight onee-chan!" Naruto whined. "I can't think of an animal for you!"

Kalya picked up a picture with stick figures that had hair and facial markings. She held back her laughter at the stick figure of Itachi.

"How about this kind…" Kalya picked up a crayon and started to draw an animal she knew all too well. A wolf. A wolf with two tails, one was silver with a red stripe and scaly, the other was fluffy and silver like the first. Its paws were lizard-like and large black feathered wings were sprouted from its shoulder blades. She pulled back and tilted her head to the side looking at the drawing of her animal.

"Cool!" Naruto stared in amazement at the drawing and pulled it to his face too look at it. His head tilted to the side in confusion. "What is it though?"

"I'll let you decide," She stood up, dusted his baggy jeans and walked back to the kitchen.

Naruto's nose wrinkled. He didn't know what it was! It looked like a wolf… then it didn't… He held it upside down and squinted at the drawing. "I can't tell!" He stood up and rushed to the kitchen, the picture in his hand and his plushie in his arm.

"Yeah well… I'd be surprised if you could," Kalya smiled sheepishly and turned the fire of the stove down a bit.

Naruto looked at it one more time and sat in a chair. "It looks like a wolf…and…" He looked at the scaly tail with black spikes and the lizard-like paws. "…a dragon? Am I right?"

Kalya smiled at him proudly. "Correct! It's a new breed spotted around the fire country, it's a really cool and beautiful animal."

"Like my fox!" Naruto said, thrusting his fist in the air.

"Yes, like your fox."

Kalya was setting everything she bought in the places they would belong while Naruto continued his drawings, growling occasionally that he had a hard time drawing the picture Kalya drew of her animal self.

Naruto was ecstatic when his lunch was placed in front of him. He hadn't had anything like this, and it all smelled so good! He placed his drawings and crayons in a chair next to him and placed his fox on top of them before attacking his food. Kalya was eating with manners that the boy obviously didn't have. Putting a piece of her chicken in her mouth, her nose wrinkled. Why was she eating with all these manners that she learned as a little girl? She wasn't around her grandmother, or the Uchiha's, or the Hokage, or Jiraiya-sensei… and she wasn't out in a restaurant.

Her face contorted into a confused and angry one. How she hated these manners. They were polite yes, but she didn't need to do them in front of a boy who was much like herself. Kalya glanced at the boy whose face was covered in bits of food. But the boy did have to know some manners… Just not at this age…

Shrugging, Kalya ate like Naruto, just not as messy as he was and not as quickly.

Naruto had asked for more and Kalya stared at him with wide eyes. "You want more Naruto?" The boy nodded his head vigorously and Kalya smiled sheepishly. "Well um… I think you shouldn't eat so much you little piglet…"

Naruto pouted and whined. "But onee-chan! It's sooo good!"

The girl before him rolled her eyes. "Don't even use that look on me Naruto, I invented that look…"

"Uh-uh! I did!" Kalya chuckled and picked up their dirty dishes, placing them in the sink.

"Oh did you?" She pinched his little nose and watched him giggle and squirm away from her grasp. "Why don't you go out Naruto? Try and find Sasuke to show him your plushie." Kalya patted his head and started to clean the dishes.

"Yeah!" Naruto rushed to the door and started to slip on his sandals.

"Uh… Naruto?" The little boy looked over his shoulder. Kalya was leaning against the wall with an amused smile. "Don't you think you should change first?"

Naruto blinked then looked at his clothes. He was still in his stripped pajamas that had pieces of food scattered all over the front and his face. Naruto smiled sheepishly with a blush that spread from on his cheeks to his whole face.

"Er… I'll be right back!" Naruto placed his shoe down and ran to his room, picking up one of his many black shirts and orange pants and some fresh undies. He rushed into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

Naruto wrinkled his nose at the mess on his face. Man was he messy… He turned the water on in the sink and picked up a wash cloth. The blonde cleaned his face up, brushed his teeth, wet his hair a bit and combed it out, and slipped on his clothes for the day. He rushed out the bathroom only to run back and pick up his plushie.

"Bye onee-chan!" Naruto hollered before running through the door.

But Kalya didn't say anything. The water was still running but the clanking of a dish hitting another ceased. Her expression was blended well with worry, surprise, and hurt. Biting her bottom lip, she looked over her shoulder at the door that Naruto forgot to close. Something wasn't right. Something was going to go wrong today… She could feel it in beating painfully her veins…

"Be careful Naruto…"

Naruto was running to the park. Sasuke had to be there! Naruto's smile grew larger. His best friend! Who wouldn't be happy that they had a new best friend? The little boy skidded to a halt, and then looked down at his fox plushie. He brought the doll up to his face.

"Hmm… Maybe I should get Sasuke something…" He safely tucked his plushie in his arms and looked around.

He knew there was a toy store around here somewhere… He always went in there because the woman who owned it didn't kick him out like the others did. In fact, she gave him discounts (But the bullies always came up to him and stole his new toy so he stopped)! She always pinched his cheeks and said he was adorable. Before he met Kalya and when Iruka wasn't around, he always went to her when he wanted someone older to play with.

"She must feel lonely…" Naruto thought out loud. He hadn't seen her in weeks.

Naruto blinked when a familiar voice reached his ears and the smell of salt water tickled his nose. Iruka was around! Naruto's listened closely and wandered around trying to find his teenage friend. Turning a corner he saw him.

"Iruka!" He called and ran to the chuunin.

Iruka looked to his right and saw his favorite little troublemaking blonde boy. But he didn't really want to see him right now. Not when Kakashi was flirting with him and had his arm over his shoulders.

"H-hey Naruto," Iruka stuttered, a light blush on his cheeks.

Naruto bounced in front of them his smile bright. He opened his mouth to say something but tilted his head to the side.

"Why are your cheeks red Iruka? Are you sick too like Kalya-chan?" He asked.

The blush on Iruka's face grew. "N-no!"

Kakashi smirked under his mask and turned Iruka's face to his own. "Yes, are you sick Iruka-kun?" Iruka's face contorted into an angry one.

"You bastard! Shut up!" The blushing man shrugged off Kakashi's arm and pushed him away.

"Now Iruka, you shouldn't cuss in front of a little boy," Kakashi's visible eye was smiling before he crouched down to Naruto's level. "Have you been a good boy Naruto?" The jounin ruffled the blonde's hair.

Naruto nodded his head vigorously. "Yup yup! Kalya-chan made me lunch and bought me this!" He showed Kakashi his new doll and nuzzled it against his cheek.

Kakashi's eyebrow rose a bit. "Really, Kalya-chan?"

"Doesn't that seem a bit odd?" Iruka whispered over his shoulder to Kakashi, who shook his head.

"No, not really, Kalya always did love children." Kakashi ruffled Naruto's hair again.

"Oh! Kakashi-san! Do you know where Sasuke is?" The little boy bounced on his feet. "I think he's at the park but I'm not sure."

The masked man shrugged. "He might be with his family, or at the park, or with his brother. I don't really know Naruto…"

Naruto's bounce disappeared. With his family? Then he really didn't want to bother him… To get rid of his sadness he jumped on Iruka's back and pulled at the ponytail.

"Why do you keep this up Iruka?"

"Gah! Naruto get off!" Iruka reached over his back trying to get a hold on the little boy who was pulling his rubbed band off. "Stop it!"

"But it's so soft!" Naruto said, taking the rubber band off and burying his face in the brown silk.

Kakashi chuckled and ran his fingers through Iruka's hair, making his face even redder. "Oh yes, very soft."

Naruto giggled then gave a surprise yelp whenhe was pulled off of the chuunin's back. He gave Iruka a sheepish grin. "Naruto, give me my rubber band…" He said in a warning tone.

"No!" The stubborn Uzumaki shot it off somewhere else and gave the man a toothy grin.

Iruka groaned and slowly slid a hand down his face. Kakashi was smiling happily. "Is there something else you needed Naruto?"

"Yeah! I wanted to get Sasuke something! But…" He turned his pockets inside out. "I don't have my money…" The little boy whimpered and gave Iruka his infamous puppy eyes.

"Aww… Iruka, why don't you buy the gift, how can you turn down that face?" Kakashi was laughing inwardly at Iruka's anger growing.

"I thought I told you to shut up! And of course Naruto, I help you get something for Sasuke."

Naruto cheered and pointed at a store over Iruka's shoulder. "Reno-chan! She has the best toys!" Iruka smiled and put the boy over his shoulders. Of course he would choose Reno's store. That girl was once an Anbu that saw what happened the day Kyuubi attacked; she saw Naruto as the hero he was supposed to be seen as. With Naruto perched on his shoulders and laughing, the two older men walked to Reno's toy store.

Kakashi pushed open then door and the little bell rang. Naruto giggled and rang with again with his hand. The store was littered with toys, games, and little children. Apart from a fabric store it was the most colorful store in Konoha! The hyperactive little blonde jumped off of his friend's shoulders and ran around laughing and running into balls and huge soft plushie dolls.

"Is that my favorite little boy?" said a voice above him.

Naruto looked up with a bright smile. "Reno-chan!" He latched himself to her legs and got a pat on his head.

Reno was a small woman that could be mistaken for a teenage, despite her being in her thirties. Her skin was sun kissed gently and a little rough, but still had a woman's softness. Her eyes were a sparkling amber color and her short dark brown hair was tied up in a ponytail. She had slight muscles and a piece of her old leaf headband on her left fingerless glove. She was dressed in baggy pants and a short baggy shirt. She always dressed comfortably ever since she became a traveler and found this store.

"How have you been? Everyone at school being nice?" Reno's smile was like the store: bright, colorful, and playful, Kakashi and Iruka found it hard to believe she was an Anbu, especially for two years… one would turn into a cold bastard if they stayed for two years or more.

"I've been good! And everyone at school is nice! Except my teacher, I don't think she will ever like me. But I made a new friend! And I wanna buy him something!" The little boy nuzzled her leg as she walked up to the counter, leaving a few laughing younger children behind with the toys and dolls.

"A new friend? That's great Naruto! What's his name?" Iruka pulled Naruto off of her leg with effort and held him on his hip.

"Sasuke! He's so cool and smart!" His little hands were clapping.

"Uchiha Sasuke?" Reno blinked. The blonde nodded.

"And Kalya! They're so funny!" Naruto was placed on the counter as Iruka tried to pull the orange book out of Kakashi's hands.

"Really, I hear Kalya is nice," Reno gave a little boy, who came up to her, a doll he wanted from behind the counter.

"Uh-huh! She made me lunch and bought me this!" He held his plushie to her face. "And she chased this big man away from me!" Naruto puffed out his cheeks and stuck out his stomach to show his description of the man who hurt his wrist.

Reno was smiling. "Yes, you life has been getting better now huh Naruto?" She received a nod. "Good. Now you said something about wanting to buy your friend a toy?" Another nod, only more vigorous than the last. "Well, I do believe Sasuke's birthday is coming around soon… Isn't it sometime this month?" Her attention went to the two men.

Kakashi was reading his perverted book while holding Iruka's hands an arms length away. Iruka was muttering about how disgusting that book was and it shouldn't be read in front of children. Kakashi's eyes that were glued to the pages of said book averted to Reno.

"Hm? Oh! Yes, his birthday's in two weeks. You'd better getting him something the girls won't get him Naruto." Kakashi gave the boy a smile before turning his attention back to his book.

"Mm... The girls might get him pillows shaped like hearts… they might get him chocolates…" Naruto was bemused.

"Um, Naruto? I think you're getting Sasuke's birthday mixed up with Valentines Day…" Iruka smiled sheepishly at the boy.

"Hmm? Oh, no! I'm not getting them mixed up! They gave him stuff like that last year on his birthday!" The adults looked at Naruto funny then held back their snickers. Poor Sasuke.

"Well why don't you look around for something he might like?" Reno picked the boy up from the counter and placed him from of an aisle filled with toys. She gave him a little push and he began his search.

Naruto walked up and down aisle. His nose wrinkled in the first one. Everything was pink and purple! He considered that aisle to be the 'girly aisle'. He side-stepped to the next aisle, everything was blue in this one. Shrugging, he walked through it slowly. There were blue elephants, blue dragons, blue cats, blue dogs and blue horses. One of the horses was on the floor because it was too big to fit on the shelf. Naruto giggled and hopped on it. He placed his fox on its head and bounced up and down on its back. After the little boy fell from it, he rubbed his head and glared at it.

"Too big…" he mumbled.

Picking up his plushie he continued his search. He had to chase a few children who took his plushie and were tossing it back and forth, playing monkey in the middle, before moving to the next aisle. Red, black, and dark blue. His nose wrinkled again and he rubbed it. The stuff seemed gloomy… but Sasuke always wore black or dark blue. With caution, he stepped in the aisle, eyeing the toys nervously. Some of them looked evil… Why would Reno have stuff like this in here! Sniffling slightly, he hurried onward. He didn't like this stuff! But something bright caught his eye.

Naruto froze and took a step back. His eyes widened happily. There were two plushies sitting next to each other, their head leaning on the other. They were both foxes (Hey, Naruto loved foxes, he would have all thefox plushies in the worldif he could!), one was yellow like the sun, and the other was really dark blue like the night sky. The yellow one had a sun pendent stitched on its forehead, and the blue one had a silver crescent moon pendant on its on forehead. Light and dark. Sun and moon.

Laughing happily, he pulled the plushies from their resting spots and hurried to the counter where the three adults were talking, or rather, Iruka was threatening to cut Kakashi's book in half with scissors, Kakashi was trying to reach for it, yelling, "NO! Not my book!" and Reno was laughing her head off. Naruto smiled and pulled at Iruka's pants.

"Look what I found!" He held the plushies up to Iruka while his orange fox was resting on his messy head. "You think Sasuke will like it?"

"I'm sure he would Naruto," Iruka smiled happily at his little blonde brother. "Both are for him?"

"Well…" Naruto looked at their faces and button eyes. He wanted one…

"You know Naruto, those plushies are actually like those little heart shaped lockets that girls give to their best friends," Reno pointed out. "The giver keeps one, and the receiver keeps the other so they don't forget one another."

Naruto blinked up at her then down at the plushies. He would get to keep one… and Sasuke would get to keep the other… so they wouldn't forget the other. This present was perfect!

"I want to keep the blue one! It looks like Sasuke!" Naruto gave the plushies a hug and placed them on the counter.

Iruka happily paid for the dolls, while still keeping the book out of Kakashi's grasp. Naruto asked for the blonde fox to be wrapped up while he held his new blue one. Two new fox plushies in one day? Awesome!

Naruto thanked Reno and Iruka hundreds of time before rushing out the store to hide his present at home.

"He is so cute," Reno said.

"Yeah he is… DAMMIT KAKASHI! DON'T READ THIS NASTY BOOK IN HERE! I SWEAR I WILL BURN IT!"

Kakashi smiled sheepishly at Iruka and backed off. Reno shook her head. "Language Iruka… you're in a child's store…"

…

Naruto was walking merrily with his bag of plush. He didn't want the other two to be seen so he placed them in the bag with the blonde one that was wrapped in red. He had a whole plan set in his head:

He would go home and hide Sasuke's present under his bed. He would make sure that Sasuke would never see it. And on his birthday, he'd give him the blonde one and show him his blue one.

Naruto thought over the plan and smiled with satisfaction. Oh yeah, that was a good plan.

The Uzumaki looked up at the sky. The clouds were dark… It was going to rain soon. Whimpering, he picked up his pace. He didn't like the rain all too much… especially when he had something with sentimental value in his arms. The little boy let out a squeak when he was picked up by the back of his shirt.

His bag fell from his grasp as he was forced to stare in the haze eyes of a man whose face was red from drinking. It got redder with his anger.

"The Kyuubi brat…" He murmured. "It's my lucky day… I'll kill you... I'LL KILL YOU I SAY!" he bellowed.

Naruto whimpered and clawed at the hand that held him. Not again! Not today! Not right now! Naruto closed his eyes tight when he saw the large fist of the man raise to punch him. The little blonde was punched out of his grasp, the air knocked roughly out of his lungs. Naruto landed on his back on the grass and let out a wail, holding his stomach.

'Please no!' Naruto pleaded in his mind, while scrambling to get up, and leave. He let out another wail when a heavy foot stepped on his ankle. Tears sprang from his eyes when a sickening crack reached his ears and unbearable pain shot up through his leg. He looked up at the man who seemed to grow angrier with each passing second.

Naruto held his head. He could not fight back… this man was way bigger than Iruka and Kalya. He whimpered and sobbed loudly with each blow he was receiving.

A kick in the ribs and a loud crack…

'Stop…'

Several punches in the face with blood seeping from his lips…

'Please stop…'

Hurtful words and a step on his small arm…

'Please stop… Stop it! I didn't do anything!'

A cry came from Naruto's mouth that could wake the surrounding houses. Crying, he finally decided to claw at the large foot crushing his arm. There was a thunderclap and rain poured in Konoha. The man lifted his leg from Naruto's arm. Naruto cradled his arm and curled in a ball, trying very hard to ignore the pain that was tearing him up.

What did he ever do! He did nothing to receive this! Why was he called a monster? Kyuubi brat? Why was he shooed away? Why was he always beaten by somebody? Beaten to the point when he couldn't move much and had to hide in the brush? Where was Kalya? Iruka? Sasuke? They would've done something!

'_You damn brat…_' a deep voice echoed in his head. '_Fight back… you're not this weak if you're holding me…_'

Who was that? He never heard the voice before… Whimpering at being choked by the man before him, he answered. 'I can't! I can't fight back!' And strangled cry left his blue lips.

Something within his little body was growing angry. Very angry… Naruto really couldn't fight back… His fingers were crushed, one of his arms was broken, his ankle was twisted in a weird way and cracked, several of his ribs were cracked, and his face was mudded, bruised, and bleeding heavily.

Though his vision was blurry from the rain, it was growing black around the edges. Yeah that's it… go to sleep… he wouldn't feel the pain while he was asleep... it happened several times before…

The large hands that were chocking him suddenly left, and warm comforting ones were cradling him. His ears ringed with the man's scream of pain and threats. But none of it was clear…Soon it was quiet. The only sound was the rain showering the village and Naruto's cries. Naruto buried his face in the chest of his savior as they covered him with their cloak. Thunder clapped again and lightening flashed.

Naruto closed his eyes at the blinding light and opened them slightly. Through the opened seam of the cloak, a big yellow paper bag was lying on its side on the rocked street. His little crushed had reached out the seam for the bag. Naruto wanted the bag filled with his plush and Sasuke's plush. His savior seemed to know what he wanted and walked to the bag, stepping over the man they knocked out. The man (Naruto didn't feel the softness of the chest that he always he felt when Reno hugged him) picked up the bag and headed a way different from Naruto's apartment.

Naruto let out a soft cry when he wasn't able to hold his orange or blue fox but still felt better that he knew the dolls were close. During the walk to where ever the savior was going, Naruto kept his face buried in his chest; the coldness of the rain seeped through the cloak and touched his skin causing him to shiver.

Small tears ran down his face. Why was he so weak? His head was plagued with questions that he wanted answers for. A soundless yawn came from the pained blonde who fell asleep, feeling a warm hand press softly against his forehead.

* * *

Ooooh… Who's the savior? –shifty eyes- man I'm on a writing spree right now… I love my muse :D. 

But yeah…. YAY! REVIEWS! Heh heh!

Gonrie: Hehehe... You might have that conversation in the next chapter…keep your fingers crossed!

darkmoon0829: -Wrinkles nose- well…Somewhat it does… Somewhat it doesn't… And yeah, you never know if Itachi will murder the Uchiha clan…I'm still on and off about that… but mostly on. OH! And some of your questions and suggestions are really helpful for me, thank you!

FlamencoPenguin: Really? –Tilts head to the side- I thought someone would've used this idea already… ugh... I'm starting to think I made this chapter like many others now, but it is part of my plot... that my friend wants to murder me for creating..-sweat drop-

Nadramon, Neji-kun-naruto, Shady Haze: Thankies for the reviews :D made me smile!

And I promise to continue! My best friend is my muse… and every time she comes over my fingers are itching to write...


	5. Chapter 5

Dani: mew….

Shicora: …Her moods change cause of her constant fights with her muse… She gets super depressed and snappy a day or two after the fight, sometimes a whole week…won't go into detail cause she'd kill me…

Dani:…-sigh- no ramble today…

Warnings: Check the past chapters for warnings!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But I do own Kalya!

* * *

Itachi was in his room, his backagainst the wall and his head up to the sky. Thoughts clouded his mind while his brother was curled next to him. The poor thing was tuckered out from practicing his fire jutsu and throwing shurikens. Itachi was just doing what he always did in the forest: Spar with another strong Uchiha, and practice. 

Itachi never noticed his father near them. Maybe he did…but you wouldn't know if he did. Sasuke was quiet after hearing the praise their father was giving him when they came home for dinner. He always was. And Itachi knew what he was keeping bottled up. He wondered if their parents did.

Itachi's half lidded gaze turned to Sasuke. The boy was so worried last night about Naruto. He questioned Itachi all night, bugging him to no end. But Itachi could understand Sasuke's concern… or could he? Sasuke's questioning got him wondering about his own old questions when he first had gotten used to Kalya being around.

Sasuke was lost in his dreams… Itachi was lost in his thoughts.

Sasuke was careful of what he asked and when he asked question. If Itachi could somehow make his brother go to sleep without hurting him, he would've last night. The youngest was so restless all last night, making the oldest restless.

-**Flashback**-

"Aniki?" Sasuke's hand in Itachi's went in a small fist. "Why… did everyone look at Naruto? Why did they look at him like father did that day? Like sensei?"

Itachi was silent for a minute or two. He could not tell Sasuke that they feared and hated Naruto because he was the kyuubi container, but he had to tell him something…

"Naruto… There is something about him that people do not like," Itachi answered, breaking the eerie silence.

"What is there not to like about him?" Sasuke wondered aloud. "Naruto's funny and friendly!" A bright smile was on his baby face.

"Sasuke," Itachi sighed. He was forbidden to tell the younger generation about the Kyuubi sealed within the blonde brat.

"Yes aniki?"

Itachi halted. His grip on Sasuke's hand tightened then loosened several times. Sasuke waited patiently for his brother's answer. Both were quiet. Sasuke somewhat felt happy. His brother rarely ever held his hand. His brother talked to him yes… but not long enough. The youngest raven haired boy tilted his head to the side.

"I can not tell you… what it is people do not like about Naruto. When he learns about himself… I will possibly tell you, but not tonight."

Sasuke nodded and they continued their walk home. The smile plastered on his face.

"What are so amused about?" Itachi questioned.

Sasuke looked up at his brother. "Oh nothing!"

Itachi shook his head and rolled his eyes. He wasn't in the mood to play childish games with Sasuke. Together they walked in silence. Crickets chirped and their sandals crunched on the path.

"Do you think Naruto will be ok?" Itachi sighed. Just when it was quiet enough to clear his thoughts, Sasuke would ask something. "I mean… he was crying, and he didn't like being in that restaurant… he probably heard what some of those people were saying."

Itachi didn't answer. But the little boy rambled on what he thought of what Naruto felt tonight. Soon, Itachi's mind was plagued by Naruto's feelings. The boy's body was shaking with sadness…fear…rage… rage that he hadn't felt in someone for so long.

'It must've been the Kyuubi…' he thought, pushing the door open to their home. 'Its anger must've been trigger by the words they have said about him… No… That can not be it… other wise… the barrier would be very weak right now from its rage shaking it all these years…' Itachi's mind continued on with ideas and thoughts of the blonde. Even as he pushed his persistent brother into his room and tried to get him to sleep.

-**Flashback end**-

Now Itachi was more tired than he had been in the longest time. He stifled a silent yawn and looked down at his brother again, who had scooted subconsciously closer to him for warmth and security.

Itachi just stared at his younger brother. Sasuke was so free of the heavy burden that was placed on his own shoulders. He somewhat envied Sasuke who was not completely trampled by his family's extremely high expectations. But Sasuke wanted to be the best like Itachi wanted to be the best. The boy worked hard… outside of the estate, it was acknowledged. Inside, it was shadowed by Itachi's own power.

"Otouto…" the word left Itachi's lips inaudibly.

He wanted power to be the best… Sasuke wanted power for attention.

'Soon… he will want it so bad… that he would have to beat me…'

Itachi shook his head. He had to do something about that… But right now… he wanted to walk. Go out for some fresh air that he desperately needed at the moment. The house was suffocating when their father was within it.

The Uchiha stood up and picked up his younger brother and tucked him in his bed. The faintest smile was on his lips as he ruffled Sasuke's hair a bit. The boy let out a loud yawn and gripped the pillow beneath his head tight, thinking it was his brother's shirt.

And Itachi left, saying good-bye to his mother, and walked out of the estate.

The few children outside were rather cheerful. They ran around like rabbits, hopping over the other and scuttling about. He remembered when he was young and in the academy and when there was a day with no school, he would practice from dawn until dusk. Only stopping at lunch, his mother would give him a tongue-lashing about it was not healthy for a child his age to not eat lunch.

The teen looked up at the sky. Clouds were moving fast, he had a feeling it was going to rain soon. His nose wrinkled when a familiar personal scent came to it. His eyes averted from the sky blue blanket with loose cotton to the girl who was his companion. Itachi waited patiently for her to call out his name and run to him.

However… that did not happen.

Kalya was walking with her arms filled with paper bags of groceries. Itachi raised an eyebrow. Somehow… he knew she was going to end up tripping. She had a knack for doing that when she was shopping; she was always lost in thought. The Uchiha walked over to her and plucked one of the bags from her arms.

"HEY!" She cried out. She shot a vicious glare at Itachi. When she noticed who it was, the glare toned down a bit. "What are you doing Itachi?"

Itachi shrugged and took another bag out of her arm and stared at her. She stared back. Kalya rolled her eyes and walked on.

"You need to talk more… not everybody is psychic!" She said. Itachi said nothing.

He always found her entertaining when she was angry. "Didn't you go shopping yesterday?"

"Yeah… but this isn't for me, it's for Naruto," Kalya smiled at an elderly couple.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, that boy has no food in his house! Not even enough utensils…" Kalya shook her head.

They walked in silence. There wasn't much to talk about this morning. There never was anything to talk about in the morning. They didn't even know why. They were always talking during the afternoon, so why should morning be any different? Kalya stopped in front of a store. Itachi stopped with her and followed her smiling gaze to the window. Inside, was a little fox that was looking at them with button eyes.

Kalya giggled and shoved the other bags into Itachi's arms. "Wait here!"

Itachi bit back a growl and shifted the bags that were just thrown at him. The raven-haired teen was impatient at the moment. The girl was taking too long to just buy the fox that her eyes were saying 'hello' to. Women... Any time they saw something adorable they would drop what they were doing. He, along with the rest of the male population, would never understand them...

When Kalya came out she noticed the glare that Itachi directed at her. She smiled sheepishly and took some of the bags from him.

"Was Sasuke shaken up from last night?"

"Hn."

"Is that a yes or no?"

Itachi rolled his eyes. "No… not really."

"But I bet he was worried." Kalya snickered at the eye twitch that Itachi gave away. So he was concerned. That's good. "I was worried too… you can't help but worry if you know the real Naruto!" Itachi said nothing.

"If you don't talk more Itachi I'm going to drown you in the lake!" Kalya threatened, earning an amused smirk from the stoic man.

"I would love to see you try." And Kalya fumed the rest of the way to Naruto's apartment.

Once inside, Itachi had helped her put things away. Itachi looked around the room. Crayons, paper, half filled glasses of juice and clothes were lying about in the house hold. His nose wrinkled in disgust as he moved a plate of old food away from him with his foot. Kalya giggled happily and went into Naruto's room to place the orange fox she bought in his arms.

Itachi was a neat kind of person… He did not like things like this. Clothes were thrown every, on the lamp, on a plant, several on the couch, and little sandals in the hall. His fingers were itching to clean up the mess, but from all his training, he restrained himself. Kalya came back and began to put the things she bought to where they belong.

She looked up and her brows furrowed at Itachi. He looked weird… The girl laughed when she realized what was making him uneasy. Her laughter caused her companion to look at her from the side of his eye.

"What is it that you find amusing, Kalya?" he questioned.

"I forgot! You're a neat freak!" Itachi glared daggers at her. "What? It's funny!" Kalya smiled at him.

The Uchiha shook his head and seated himself in a chair. He watched Kalya move around, starting breakfast and putting the poultry and dairy into the fridge. Itachi placed his chin in his palm, continuing to watch her. His mind plagued again.

Why was it… that when ever Kalya was around… he felt somewhat… normal? He felt more human, why? She was just another person… who hidden their true feelings and changed their demeanor when needed. He knew, she was a very skillful ninja, but there was so much about her that he did not know. Questions he wanted answered. But apart from that… there was something in his gut that clenched his insides none too gently, making him wince very slightly when ever it did. And right now, it was squeezing the hardest he had ever felt.

What the hell was this feeling? Why, when Kalya irritated him and amused him to no end, did he feel human? Why did he protect her name when his father insulted her constantly? Was it… no… it couldn't be…

Itachi's eyes narrowed. His mother had explained to him something like this once before… It was love. He couldn't love. It was a weak emotion that caused nothing but trouble. Some would assume he did love her by his actions, but at those times he was being playful and annoying her like she did him.

He had to squash it. There was no room for love within him.

Angry at himself, he stood up to leave. Kalya only watched him confused.

"Itachi?"

Itachi said nothing.

"Oi! Answer me you brick!" She growled.

Itachi only put his shoes on and opened the door.

"Itachi…" she snarled and chucked a butcher knife at his head.

Itachi grabbed it effortlessly and stared at her with angry eyes that made her shiver. "Quit your childish antics Kalya… There is no reason for me to be here…"

"Ok, whatever! But you mind telling me why you're so angry? I throw things at you all the time! And you never look at me like this!" Kalya stomped to him and stared him dead in the eye.

"Maybe I'm just getting tired…" He dropped the butcher knife and it fell with a dull 'thud'. "Don't bother following me to pester for answers…just take care of Naruto…" and he left Kalya bewildered.

Itachi made his way to a bar; he never drank anything there but the people who call themselves ninjas in there somehow calmed him.

The dark room was thick with smoke and the smell of alcohol. The teen sat himself down on a black leather chair. He knew people were talking about him. 'One of the youngest people to ever become jounin', if he wasn't in such a foul mood, he would have complacently smirked. Itachi's gaze lifted at the familiar presence of his former ANBU partner and captain.

Hatake Kakashi…with his perverted book glued to his fingers. Itachi nodded at him as the silver haired jounin sat down across from him.

"Who has made you cross this time, Itachi?" The jounin looked at the raven haired teen from the top of his book. Itachi said nothing. He just glared at the lazy nin.

Kakashi chuckled and continued reading. "How is everyone?" Everyone, when talking to Itachi, referred to his younger brother and Kalya.

"Sasuke's restless; he could not sleep at all last night from worrying about his blonde friend…"

"Oh? And who is this blonde friend you are talking about?"

"Uzumaki Naruto…" Itachi averted his gaze outside where more people where walking around happily.

"You don't say," Kakashi said, nonchalant.

When Itachi said no more, Kakashi looked at him confused. "And…Kalya?"

Itachi's emotionless expression didn't falter. However, his hands were clenching so tight on the arms of his chair that his knuckles were white.

"Something happen to Kalya-chan?" Itachi nearly growled at the endearing suffix that Kakashi added. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Kakashi coolly.

"No… she's just being as stupid and stubborn as usual..."

"And since when did that ever stop you from being around her?" Kakashi smirked under his mask. Oh, he very much knew about Itachi's strong attachment to Kalya, the boy could not hide it from his eye like he did with others. She was his weakness. Occasionally he would push Itachi's buttons just for fun.

"Kakashi…"Itachi snarled.

"Yes?" The twenty year old was laughing inwardly.

"Iruka is outside…" Itachi too, knew one of the jounin's own weaknesses… and that happened to be the Umino that was happily chatting with someone outside.

"Hm?" Kakashi looked out side and a smirk played on his lips. "Oh… why yes he is… If you would excuse me…" The silver haired man pocketed his book and walked out with his usual laid back walk.

Itachi let out a small sigh. He felt sorry for leading Kakashi to Iruka but he needed that blackmailing Hatake away from him. He watched as Kakashi led a blushing Iruka away from the building with his arm over his shoulder

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours. Itachi stayed in that same spot. Same position. Same look on his face. Not a shred of thought went through his head. His mind, like his face was, blank. Void of any emotion, thoughts… nothing. People passing by wondered how he was able to be like that. Sitting like that for three hours without moving an inch after the copy ninja had left.

The only movement he had made was his eyes. They shifted from people to people, they blinked, but the black abysses said nothing.

The sound of thunder made Itachi turn his head to the window. Several people around him gasped at his sudden movement. He wondered when it would rain. The rain washed everything away from him. Most of the time at least... He slowly stood and walked out, grabbing some drunken man's cloak and slipping it over his shoulders. Normally he wouldn't do this… but by the way the rain was beating down in Konoha, and the fact that his mother would fuss about him being soaked to the bone when he would come home, he needed one. The rain would soak through anyway… and he would relish the feeling of the cold water touching his pale skin.

Itachi walked through the rain. No one felt like being outside in this weather. His sandals splashed in the gathering puddles and his hair was soggy from the storm. His cloak flapped viciously when he halted. Several feet away from him was a large man… beating on someone with blond hair that was currently covered in mud and blood.

Why didn't he see this before? Sure the rain blurred his vision but he still should've seen it earlier.

Naruto…

His cries were loud… and no one came. The sound of his small bones cracking could not be muffled by the rain… And the man's hateful words… they sank deep into Itachi's skin. He glared at the man's back and rushed forward. Though he himself was not fond to the Kyuubi… the boy was not the demon fox. And he did not deserve a beating for something the fox within him did.

The raven haired jounin plucked Naruto out of the large man's hands and cradled the crying boy.

"What are you doing!" The beefy man yelled. "He's the demon! The monster who will kill this village!"

"…He is just a boy…" Itachi said.

The man snorted in disgust. "Why are you protecting him? Oh, so he brainwashed you like he did with Sandaime, huh? Come here boy! One knock in the head and you'll be out of the demon's grasp! I'll Kill Him!" The man screamed.

Itachi's eyes narrowed. He pulled Naruto into the cloak he borrowed and punched the large man in the face, knocking him out. 'Weakling…' Itachi thought. Itachi opened his cloak a bit and stared at the shivering boy who was bleeding quite heavily. He noticed a few small open wounds were slowly closing. 'Kyuubi…'

Thunder clapped and lightening flashed, the little boy in his arms flinched. Naruto's hand reached out of the cloak, trying to reach for the yellow bag that was lonely on its side. Itachi raised an eyebrow and stepped over the large man. He grabbed the bag and looked down at Naruto once more. He was crying as hard as he bled. He's just a little boy… he did not deserve this pain.

Looking forward, he walked home. Right now, he wished he had something more water resistant and warmer. Naruto was shivering like a leaf, making Itachi almost drop him twice. Naruto had fall asleep a little while ago but that did not cease his shivering and sobs.

Naruto was a little ball of light. And rarely anyone took the time to get to know him and realize that he was strong. Physically? Possibly no, but mentally? Oh yes. He was even stronger than Itachi mentally. Despair and hatred was always overpowered him. Despair for his younger brother that he could not be with much, and hatred for his father for pulling him away from everyone and turning him into a cold bitch. Granted, he was able become a much better ninja because of him, but his father was plucking his last nerves.

Itachi looked up at his home. Uchihas… prideful people… protecting what? Themselves? They're reputation? Itachi sighed. Great… Kalya's words were finally hammering themselves into his head. The Uchiha jumped to the balcony of his room.

He pushed the sliding door to the side and entered his room, water from his body dripping onto the tatami mat. He placed the yellow bag in his closet and shrugged out of the heavy soaked cloak, careful not to wake up the now quiet Naruto. Itachi wrinkled his nose at the heavy smell of blood on the both of them. Sighing, he placed Naruto on his bed. He would have to hide Naruto in here… until he has completely healed at least…

Itachi looked at the yellow bag in his closet. What was in there that made Naruto reach for it? Curiosity got the best of him and he went through the bag. Inside was the orange plushie Kalya had bought earlier today, a dark blue fox, and something wrapped up. There was a little card attached to it. Opening the card, a sloppy handwriting, he assumed was Naruto's, read:

'_Happy Birthday Sasuke! Reno-chan said that one person gets to keep one fox, and your best friend gets the other! Don't forget me!_'

Itachi let a ghost of a smile on his face. How Naruto found out about Sasuke's birthday coming up was beyond him, Sasuke didn't really like people from outside of the estate knowing about the day of his birth. What did the little boy get his brother? Pushing the paper wrapping out of the way… a little yellow fox looked up at him. How ironic… two dolls that represented the boys. He wondered if Naruto knew that…

Naruto mumbled something incoherently just as someone knocked. Some thing slammed hard into Itachi's chest. What is with the sudden wave of feelings? Why was he scared? Looking down at the little boy on his bed, he realized… if it was either of his parents… They would throw him out in the rain.

The raven haired boy didn't answer. He just stared at the door.

"Aniki?" Relief washed over him.

"What is it Sasuke?" Itachi lifted his covers and gently tucked Naruto it.

"Oh good! Kaa-san was worried!" Sasuke burst into the impersonal room, freezing at the sight of his older brother tucking someone in. "Who's that?"

Itachi looked at his brother then sighed, leaving Naruto's side to shut the door and let his brother see. Sasuke's eyes widened to the size of serving plates.

"NAR-" Itachi's freezing hand clamped over his mouth.

"Shh Sasuke… If mother or father heard you say his name they would throw him out… And there would be nothing I could do about it."

Sasuke bit his bottom lip and stared at the beaten boy on his brother's bed. Who would do such a thing? The beating was something other kids couldn't have done. Itachi's hand slowly slid from Sasuke's face and he bent down to his brother's height.

"Sasuke listen to me," he whispered to his brother. "I need you to help take care of Naruto… I have a mission tomorrow. If he wakes make sure he eats, and don't get mother suspicious. Can you do that? Can you make sure that neither of our parents sees Naruto?"

Sasuke licked his quivering lips and nodded. "Yes Aniki…"

Itachi nodded and straightened himself. "Where is kaa-san? I need to tell her I'm here…"

"…In the den with otou-san…" Sasuke whispered.

Itachi stared down at his little brother who was staring at Naruto. Being nonchalant, he left the boys alone, closing the door.

Sasuke stared at his friend. Who would do such a thing? He quietly and slowly padded to Naruto's side. Lightening flashed. Naruto's hands clenched slightly. Sasuke's ears perked up at the name Naruto murmured.

"…Sasuke…" A small smile crept on the raven haired boy's face.

He crawled on Itachi's bed and curled next to Naruto. Despite the fact that Naruto reeked of blood, he was still comforting to be around. Sasuke's nose wrinkled and he gently tugged one of Naruto's matted locks. Naruto whimpered at the action and Sasuke pulled his hand away.

Gulping, he closed his eyes. Maybe Naruto would feel better if someone who cared about him was sleeping next to him! It always made Sasuke feel better when Itachi slept next to him after a cruel nightmare. Instantly, the other little boy was asleep. Itachi sat in his arm chair watching boy of them. His face was impassive, be he found it cute that his brother cared this much about someone who wasn't related to them…

* * *

Dani: mew! Those who guessed Itachi as Naruto's savior congrats! (A little chipper from all the ice cream she ate.) 

Thank you for all the reviews everyone! Remember! Read and Review! The more reviews the more motivation! Cause I feel loved when u all review :D.


	6. Chapter 6

Dani: Omg…. I can not believe u guys love this story so much! Thank you! And I feel much better too! Lotsa more motivation! Oh! And when I was writing this… it was also the day of my talent show… It felt so good that I was able to go out there and sing:) even tho I didn't win it felt really good! So, if there is something u love to do go for it! Don't let anyone pull you back, just keeping on reaching and learning and u'll get there! Anyway…-cough-

**Warnings**: Read earlier chapters!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But I do own Kalya!

* * *

Sasuke waited patiently in his older brother's room. The boy was sitting indian style on Itachi's bed. Last night, the bed was soaked with blood, even though Itachi had bandaged thethe source of the bloodup. Now it was clean, and Itachi was giving the still unconscious Naruto a bath. 

Sasuke stared at the beige wall before him, looking down every now at the tracings he had made on the blanket. Swirls… lots of swirls. Sighing, he fell back with a soft 'flomp'. It was so…BORING. And he did not know what he found so interesting about Itachi's wall. Maybe it was that crack in the wall Itachi made when he was Sasuke's age. He didn't know.

A soft yawn left Sasuke's mouth as he rubbed his eye. Naruto thrashed a few times last night. Itachi was somewhere else at those times. It really freaked Sasuke out. His blonde friend clutched his head and cried. A single touch from Sasuke caused him to throw his fists about. Sasuke had remembered what his mother did when he did something like that. She hugged him and caressed his hair until he woke.

He had done the same to Naruto. He calmed down but would not wake. Sasuke was scared he would probably scream out and his parents would run in the room. Chaos would occur if that did happen.

When Sasuke woke this morning, he was afraid his parents had found out. He woke without a blonde Naruto next to him, then blankets clean and he was tucked in. He scampered around, nearly crying until he found Itachi in the bathroom with Naruto. Sasuke had wanted to stay but Itachi shooed him out.

Sasuke scratched his nose and looked outside. Birds were flying around. Chirping happily and ruffling their feathers free of water. Several of them puffed out their chest and chirped at the others in the tree across from them. The Uchiha blinked when one flew in and landed next to him.

Their gazes locked on each other. The bird tilted it head and chirped. Sasuke smiled and rubbed his finger on its head. The white bird chirped once more. It was so soft… and fragile… like Naruto.

The sound of the door opening caused the bird to leave in freight. Sasuke quickly sat up and stared at Itachi.

Itachi just stared back then down at the still unconscious Naruto in his arms. He was dressed in Sasuke's clothes that hung loosely from his body. The damages on Naruto's face were gone… not even a scab or a scar… Sasuke blinked in confusion as Itachi placed Naruto next to him.

"I will leave soon Sasuke…" Itachi said, opening his closet and taking out his ANBU outfit.

Sasuke nodded and gently tugged on a soft, cleansed blonde lock of hair. Naruto's eye lids twitched, but did not open. Sasuke smiled again and laid his head next to Naruto's playing with his hair. He had a fascination with Naruto's hair. It was so soft, like fur, and as bright as the sun. He could play with it all day and bury his face in it. Naruto wouldn't like that much… and the girls in his class would murder him for catching the attention of the smartest Uchiha in their class. Although, the girls were already after Naruto's blood…

Itachi adjusted his armor and looked at his brother playing with Naruto's hair. He chuckled, making Sasuke's hand quickly leave Naruto's messy hair.

"Remember what I said, Sasuke?"

"Don't let kaa-san and otou-san see Naruto or hear Naruto," Sasuke said, happily.

Itachi nodded and ruffled Sasuke's hair before leaving. Sasuke inhaled deeply and looked at Naruto. The boy looked like he wouldn't wake up anytime soon... Blinking several times, he looked back outside. Birds stared at him and Naruto. Sasuke smiled at them, and then pointed at Naruto.

"This is my best friend!" He told them.

The birds chirped several times before starting a song. A soft breeze entered the room, ruffling the curtains and the boys' hairs. Naruto mumbled something and shifted a bit, his arm falling from the bed and hanging listlessly. Sasuke laughed softly and scooted Naruto off of the edge. The blonde Kyuubi boy shuddered and rolled on his side. Sasuke's shirt was a bit too big for the boy's small frame. What should he do now?

'I remember he said… he rarely ate…' Snapping his fingers, he scuttled out of his brother's room, making sure to close the door.

Sasuke tip toed down the stairs, looking down the corridors and halls for his mother or father. Either one would question why he was inside, instead of outside with his cousins. Not a sound reached his ears, except his own footsteps that bounced off of the walls.

The little Uchiha peeked his head in the kitchen were his mother usually was. She was no where in sight. Smiling, he hurried to the counter, hoisting himself up and searching through the cabinets. What could he make? He grabbed several bowls; they clanked noisily as he set them down on the counter. He pulled out utensils, and ingredients for who know what. Kalya always told him that some of the best dishes came from someone's heart.

Being careful not to cut himself and not to burn something, he began making something. Something he was putting his heart into. Occasionally, Sasuke pouted and stomped his foot when he was too small to reach something. Why must he be so small?

Minutes later, the kitchen was covered in flour, rice, and water. The walls had little hand prints and the floor had the footprints of Uchiha Sasuke. Even Sasuke was covered in so much. Rice was everywhere in his raven hair, his face and arms covered in flour and sauce. He tongue shot out to lick some of the sauce at the corner of his lips while he picked up a wash cloth. Someone had to clean this mess up before his parents came home.

Sasuke turned around and gulped at the mess he made and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Oops…" he whispered.

Shrugging his shoulders, he began cleaning the walls, looking at his creation that was heating in the pots on the lit stove to be sure it wasn't burning. The wall was soon sparkling clean (he had cleaned the thin sheet of dust on the picture frames and on some parts of the wall) and Sasuke smiled, proud of himself for cleaning. Turning his head to the stove, his smile grew just a tad bit more. Just a little longer!

Cleaning the washcloth he looked up at the clock. A quarter past ten. He inhaled deeply. His mother usually came home at eleven to make lunch for his little stomach, and then she left to be with her friends. Sasuke had a thoughtful expression on his face. If he could somehow feed Naruto, then come down for his lunch after cleaning himself up, he could give his mother the old in and out. Sasuke shook his head. No. His mother would know something was wrong if he did that. So… just staying with her and enjoying his food was that only solution. He could only hope that Naruto wouldn't wake and make noises while she was there.

Nodding his head at his idea, he began scrubbing the floor free of sauce, flour and dirt. For very clean people, they sure missed a lot of spots. Hopping up, he turned the stove off and picked up a plate from the table. Sasuke was biting his bottom lip as her carefully placed his creation on the plate. So much cleaning had to be done! The pots had to be cleaned, the utensils had to be cleaned, and the floor needed a bit more cleaning.

Sasuke's ears twitched at the sound of something creaking upstairs. He gulped. Was somebody here? Or was that Naruto? Wiping his hands on his shirt he scudded up the stairs. The noises were coming from Itachi's room. Was Naruto awake? He raised and uneasy had to the door knob and pushed just as someone pulled it.

Dreary blue met worried onyx. The boys let out a scream and jumped away from each other.

Naruto's ankle hadn't fully healed yet so he lost his balance and fell on his rear. Sasuke was pressed up against the wall, a hand over his heart.

"N-Naruto?"

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?" Naruto questioned as he rubbed his ankle.

"I live here…" Sasuke said and approached Naruto.

Naruto blinked then looked back at the room he occupied and then at the picture behind Sasuke. The blonde boy giggled sheepishly and stuck his tongue out.

"Oh… well how did I get here?" He reached up for Sasuke's help.

"Aniki brought you here," Sasuke laughed, helping the poor boy up to his feet.

"Ouch…" Naruto winced as he placed his foot on the floor. "My ankle still hurts…"

Sasuke smiled at his friend and helped him back to Itachi's bed. "I'm making food; I was going to bring some of it up."

"Oh so that's what I smelled!" Naruto folded his hands at the back of his head and gave Sasuke a tooth grin.

"The food woke you up?"

"I guess so…"

Naruto's stomach growled and the boys stared at it. Naruto chuckled nervously. "Um… food would be really nice right now…"

The raven haired boy nodded and hurried back out to finish putting his delicious smelling food together. His own stomach growled as he carried it back up. Naruto was still in Itachi's room, only holding an orange fox plushie. He sniffed the air happily.

"That smells good Sasuke!" He yipped, licking his lips.

"Thanks, I made it myself," Sasuke smiled and placed it on Itachi's bed. "Did my food really wake you?"

"Yup! Food always wakes me up!" Naruto placed his fox down next to him and broke his chopsticks. "What about you?"

"Kaa-san is going to make me some at twelve…" Sasuke perked his ears up for any sounds of his mother coming.

Naruto's brows furrowed in confusion. "Why so late?"

Sasuke only shrugged and sat on the bed. He glanced at the orange fox that was watching Naruto swallow up his food. Where did that thing come from? He picked up the fox and held it arms length away from his body, examining it.

"Kalya-chan got me that," Naruto said, his mouth full of Sasuke's food.

"Hn… why a fox?" Sasuke looked at Naruto who was staring at him, his eyes crinkled in a smile.

His blonde hair was soft and tamed, his cheeks puffed out from the food, and his cute whisker-like scars made him smile. He was so baby-ish. Not to mention... Sasuke tilted his head to the side… Very fox-ish.

"I love foxes! They're the best! And it's cute…" Naruto burped and snatched his fox from Sasuke's clutches. "And he's mine!" The blonde boy gave him a toothy grin.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and poked Naruto hard.

"Ouch, that hurt!" Naruto stuck his tongue out at him and whacked Sasuke with his fox. "You can't hit me like that for no reason! "

"I can too!" Sasuke stuck his tongue out and jumped off the bed.

The young Uchiha teased the blond Uzumaki to no end. He ran around in Itachi's room, dodging everything Naruto was throwing at him Save for the orange fox that Naruto was tempted to throw at him. Sasuke was getting somewhat jealous of that fox. What was so special about it? Puffing out his chest, he pounced on Naruto and tried to yank the fox away from Naruto.

"Noooo!" Naruto cried out, trying to keep Sasuke away from his fox.

"Gimme!" Sasuke growled out, playfully.

"NO!" Naruto tugged his fox out of Sasuke's grip and fell backwards. "OW!"

Sasuke snickered and stared down at Naruto from the bed. The blond ball of energy was gripping his head in pain and whimpering. His fox lay a foot away from him. Sasuke smirked and picked up the fox, standing several more feet away from Naruto.

"You're mean Sasuke!" Naruto pouted and sat up, rubbing the bump on the back of his head. Sasuke just stuck his tongue out at him and looked at the fox again.

"…Foxes are weird…"

Naruto gasped and pointed at his friend. "Hey! They are not weird! Cats are the ones that are weird! You guys hate water and are really lazy when it is raining!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "…What are you saying?"

Naruto smirked and crossed his arms. "Don't tell me you forgot you're a scaredy cat!"

Sasuke twitched. Him? Scared? Ha! Sasuke pounced on Naruto again, causing him to squeak in surprise. "Now who's scared?" Sasuke said, haughtily.

"Get off!"

The boy rolled around, trying to pin the other down. Sasuke was winning so far. Naruto was getting angry because he was losing to his best friend again.

"You're evil-"

The boys froze at the sound of a door opening downstairs.

"Sasuke?"

Oh no… His mom. Sasuke bit his bottom lip and looked at the clock upon Itachi's desk. Eleven already! Sasuke bounced up and looked around frantically. Naruto just stared up at him confused.

"Sasu-mmph!" Sasuke clamped a hand over Naruto's mouth.

"Shh! Kaa-san can't hear you! You have to stay here and not make a single sound! Don't leave this room Naruto!" Sasuke whispered to him.

Naruto blinked then slowly nodded, still confused. Sasuke nodded then quickly left closing the door behind him.

Naruto just sat there on the floor, staring at the door. What just happened? First they were playing around without a care in the world and now… Sasuke acted like he was going to be caught and punished for doing something he wasn't supposed to.

Naruto hummed to himself and picked up his fox that lay forgotten. Not a sound, Naruto remembered, and stopped humming. Not a sound so Sasuke's kaa-san can't hear him. He picked himself up and limped to the bed. Stupid ankle…

The little boysat on the bed. Feeling exhausted. A silent yawn left his mouth. Why couldn't he meet Sasuke's mom? Why couldn't she hear him? Naruto's head tilted downward. Oh yeah…. She was an Uchiha… Uchiha's hated him like everyone else in this village. Naruto inhaled deeply and leaned back on the bed, holding his fox skyward.

Why was Sasuke his friend? Sure he asked himself that question many times… And he came up with realistic answers… But… he wanted to hear those answers from his own mouth. It sure would make him feel a hell of a lot better…

Naruto brought down his plushie and hugged it tight.

'Sasuke's my best friend…'

-_blegh_-

Meanwhile, Sasuke was helping his mother clean up the mess he made. His excuse? He was really hungry. And his mother fell for it. Now to just keep her out of Itachi's room. Of course, she hadn't been in there since Itachi became chuunin, but still nice to be precautious.

"Kaa-san? Where's Otou-san?" Sasuke asked as he swept up the rest of the flour on the floor.

"On a mission," His mother smiled down at him. It was such a beautiful smile too.

How could something so beautiful go so ugly when Naruto was brought up? It was like… people saw him as a plague, scourging his way through the village. But Naruto wasn't causing any sort of afflictions. Save for a prank or two, but seriously, he was just a kid, what great damage that he heard his relatives speak of could he do?

"Kaa-san?" He reached out for his mother's attention. "W-what is it… that you do not like about… Uzumaki Naruto?"

His mother froze. That disgusted ugly look was on her face. Her eyes flared up in anger and her hands shook. Sasuke bit his bottom lip.

"Sasuke… I really don't think we should talk about….him…" His mother's nostrils flared.

"But kaa-san, he's in my class, and he's always lonely…" 'More lonely than me….' Sasuke realized.

Naruto had no parents, no relatives… not many friends… and people beat him up for no god damn reason. Sasuke wrinkled his nose. Sasuke had everything Naruto wanted. Oh if only he could give it to him… He would share his family with Naruto but… No one liked him.

Sasuke's ears perked up and he looked disappointingly at his mother. She muttered something that he could not accept.

"He deserves it…"

"Kaa-san! Naruto doesn't deserve to be treated like the way he is! It's not fair! Naruto's funny and kind!"

Sasuke's mother looked at him funny when realization dawned over her. "…. He's your friend… the one you've been giving the extra bentos I made to…"

Sasuke stood his ground and gulped. He nodded. Worried, his mother bent down to her knees and shook him.

"Sasuke listen to me! You can no longer be around him!"

"But why kaa-san? He did nothing!" Sasuke cried out and pulled at his mother's sleeves.

"Trust me Sasuke… He will deceive you… turn your trust against you!"

"No he won't!" Sasuke screamed. His mother stared at him in shock. "Naruto would never turn against me! Everyone calls him a monster! He's not a monster! He's Naruto! Naruto who is far lonelier than I! Naruto who has no friends! Naruto who has no family! Naruto is Naruto!" Sasuke wretched himself free from his mother's grasp. She stared at him in shock. "Naruto… is my best friend…"

Sasuke's mother just stared at her son. His… best friend? Friends with the Kyuubi? What is it that Sasuke saw in that boy? He held a monster within him... and… that was it… He held the monster… Sasuke was right… the boy wasn't a monster. No! she could not accept that. He was a monster and that was fnal! His mother reached out for him. She didn't want to talk about the boy right now…

"You… feel lonely… Sasuke?"

Sasuke was on the brink of tears. He rubbed his eye and nodded. His father paid more attention to Itachi. It was always about Itachi in his family. And all the girls he knew… They only cared for his name and intelligence. The boys his age and within his family thought that he was too superior to them. They'd rather serve him than be friends…

"Oh baby…" She pulled him in a tight hug and caressed his soft raven locks of hair. "I'm so sorry…" Sasuke nodded in her bosom and let her hold him.

Funny… they both, Naruto and Sasuke,begged for attention. They had some sort of bond that they could cherish for a long time. Sasuke smiled slightly. They had a bond. Sasuke and Naruto's friendship was a very strong bond, and was growing stronger with each person against it and supporting it.

His mother nowlooked a bit more open minded. But Sasuke felt it… She could not fully accept the fact that Naruto wasn't a monster like everyone thought he was. Maybe… sometime soon she will. But not today, he promised Itachi that he would not let his parents see him.

The mother and son shared the warm embrace a while longer before she stood and continued cleaning and cooking.

"So… how is your… friend?" She asked.

"Er… he's… fine," Sasuke said, uneasily.

There was an uncomfortable pause between them. His mother stayed in the kitchen while he sat outside, his legs dangling from the porch. His fingers fidgeted in his lap. What was Naruto doing? He must've been bored right now. Naruto wasn't one to just sit around and do nothing unless they were in class.

The silence continued on as Sasuke and his mother were eating. Sasuke was poking at his food though. Too upset and confused to eat. His throat and heart burned for some unknown reason, and it seriously hurt. Gulping down his water down his dry throat he stood.

"Kaa-san… I'm not really hungry…" He excused himself with his hands in his pockets

His mother stared at him leaving, her poor little boy. "Alright Sasuke, I'll be back late tonight…"

Her voice was blurred in Sasuke's ears though as he made his way upstairs. His legs felt heavy with each step he took. What was wrong with him? Was it… something he shouldn't have said to his mother? Or was it… Something she had said?

_He will deceive you… turn your trust against you!_

Sasuke winced and halted.

Would he really turn against him? Sasuke looked up ahead at Itachi's door. Was Naruto really like the others? The others who only wanted to be friends with him because he was one of the famous Uchihas? Would Naruto turn his trust against him? Sasuke gulped and continued on. He should ask… but he didn't want to sound like he now did not trust his blonde friend.

Reaching up for the handle, he opened the door and found Naruto on the bed, sleeping with his fox tight in his clutches. Sasuke smiled a bit and closed the door quietly behind him.

Climbing on to the bed, he continued to stare at the peaceful looking Naruto. He did not want to wake him, but he had to know. The Uchiha poked Naruto's cheek. The blonde whined and swatted his hand away. Sasuke's smile brightened. His funny blonde friend was just so silly that you had to smile.

"Naruto?" He poked the boy's scarred cheek again.

"Nooo… I will not wake, you evil sun…" Naruto mumbled.

Sasuke blinked then laughed. The sun was evil? Funny, he was considered the sun himself. He shook the boy. "Naruto wake up."

Naruto opened one eye. "But I don't wanna…"

"But I have to ask you something," Sasuke grasped a lock of blonde hair.

"What is it? I like sleeping…"

'I can see that," Sasuke laughed inwardly. "Are we really friends?"

Naruto's eyes opened fully. He was clearly confused. "…Why do you ask Sasuke?"

"Well… I just want to know!" Sasuke said.

Naruto blinked and stared up at the ceiling. Are they? Are they really friends?

"… I have a question too... _Why_ are you my friend?"

Sasuke blinked and let go of Naruto's hair. He pulled his knees to his chest and embraced them, resting his forehead on them. "I don't know… maybe 'cause… we're a lot alike?"

Naruto propped himself up. They were alike? How? Sasuke had a family. Naruto didn't. Naruto had gotten beaten up many times for no reason. Sasuke didn't. Everybody loved Sasuke. No one loved Naruto.

"But how are we alike?"

"…Because… we're both lonely…"

Naruto's brow furrowed. Sasuke was lonely? "Why are you lonely?"

Sasuke was quiet for a moment. He really didn't like to talk about it… But it was rude to ignore a question. "Because nobody sees me as me… They just see me as the next Uchiha Itachi. They pay no attention to Sasuke, just his brother."

"But how can no one see you as Sasuke?" Naruto burst out, covering his mouth. Oops, he wasn't supposed to be loud.

Sasuke's shoulders shook with light laughter. "Kaa-san's not here right now…" He had heard the from door close a little while ago.

"Oh… but! You have everything! You have a family, you have friends, you have respect…" Naruto let the sentence trail on.

"No one in my family acknowledges me unless I do something Itachi has not done at my age, which is really rare. My so called 'friends' just want to have the fame that is surrounded by my name. Respect seems to be the only thing I have." Sasuke looked at Naruto from the side of his eyes.

Naruto's sky blue eyes were so innocent, curious, and bemused. They were much more colorful and filled with life than his onyx ones. Naruto would never deceive him. That's what his eyes were telling him. I won't turn against you, is what they were telling him.

Sasuke 'Eeped!' slightly and flinched at the unexpected hug from Naruto. The blonde boy nuzzled their cheeks together, a bright smile plastered on his face. A warm feeling had begun to spread inside of Sasuke, but his face still held shock.

"N-Naruto?"

"So we're really friends! Cause you're the first friend I've ever had! Well… you are my friend… right Sasuke?"

Sasuke blinked several times and looked outside where the birds were still flying about. Naruto's voice… was so filled with happiness. His smile was true…. And his aura had changed greatly. A smile somewhat equivalent to Naruto's, who still held him in a hug.

"Yeah, friends," Sasuke said.

Best Friends…

* * *

Dani: WTFlip! Why the heck did I make it sound like it was the end other this story? 

Shicora: -shrugs- maybe cause it went right with it?

Dani: Hmm… True…

At any rate…

GOD DANG! So many reviews… I love you all!-Glomps every who reviewed- I swear… me getting back with my best friend and finding out I got all these reviews has really put me in a boost to continue :D

Thank you all!

Oh, and by the way, darkmoon0829, Kalya and Kakashi just work together, he was once her captain.

More to come! Please remember to review! I love the motivation!


	7. Chapter 7

Dani: mew… Dani ish in love… with you people and her new bf!

Shicora: ….again… ignore her and just read on….

**WARNINGS:** Read past chapters for more info please! Thank you!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto; it would be great if I could though!

* * *

Two months…

Two very eventful and hilarious months have passed.

Well… at least for two little boys with almost nothing in common.

Naruto was still vibrant and cheerful, Sasuke was still calm and cool, until he was alone with Naruto that is.

At this moment, they were alone near the bank of the lake. Empty bentos were above their heads and scrolls were scattered about. Their new teacher, and Naruto's brotherly friend, had heavily supplied them with homework. Iruka was nice, but strict, Naruto said he like him better outside of the school. Sasuke was taking a cat nap, his hands linked together behind his head and his face towards the sky.

His black shirt was darkened with grass stains and his face sported a few scratches that Naruto had made from tackling him countless times. Naruto was curled up next to him, wide awake, his small hand clutching a small portion of Sasuke's shirt.

The two of them would have been considered brothers in others' eyes if they hadn't been so closed minded. Where ever Naruto was, Sasuke was beside him, looking at him like he was an idiot whenever the blonde did something terribly stupid. But the whiskered boy knew better, it was just a mask that Sasuke was given and temporarily wore it, instead of all the time like his older family members did.

A small smile graced Naruto's baby face. So much has happened and made him one of the happiest children in the academy.

Naruto had to stay hidden in Uchiha Itachi's room for one more day after the ordeal caused him to be unconscious for a while. Twice he was nearly seen by Hiro, Sasuke and Itachi's father, when he left the safety of the colorless room to use the bathroom. Several times, he wondered if all the Uchihas, excluding Sasuke and their generation in his large family, were distant and stone faced. Though Naruto only caught a glimpse of the man, he always shivered from the cold presence he felt.

When Itachi came home at midnight, Naruto had watched him change from his ANBU garb, smelling the thick coppery blood upon the Uchiha. The blonde boy whimpered and clutched the blanket tight to his quaking body, recollecting what had happened to him the other day. Itachi had tried to comfort him, but Naruto only scooted farther away from him, saying that the blood was too much. Naruto felt much better when the Uchiha came back from his bath and cuddled up to him on his lap.

He didn't know what was wrong with him cuddling next to Itachi. The Uchiha stiffened when he did and tried to pry Naruto off of him. Didn't Sasuke cuddle to him when he was upset or afraid? Or was it just because he was a stranger? Naruto didn't know but he had fallen asleep instantly.

Kalya stayed with him for a bit, saying that he was fun to be around. She nearly gave Itachi a long tongue lashing for not taking Naruto home, but instead, to his house. Unfortunately, she never got the chance after the blonde boy was placed in her arms. Itachi left like the wind without a word, leaving the two blue eyed people to stare at the spot he once occupied.

That small incident didn't seem to disturb the girl's lively personality and attitude though. But Naruto somehow felt she was lying to herself. Kalya had taken a mission not to long ago; she had said it would probably last a whole month, leaving Naruto all alone in his empty house.

Before her mission, that was confidential mind you, Sasuke's birthday had come along! But sadly, for the girls crushing on Sasuke and Naruto, they were restricted from the party. Uchihas were the only ones to celebrate the raven-haired boy's birthday. Naruto was especially restricted from going to the party. So he sat in the sand box that was behind the academy with his plushies and Sasuke's present. He sat there till the sun went down; the poor blonde boy was quite forlorn. He didn't get to give Sasuke his present.

On his way home, Naruto spotted his said friend knocking on his door. He was dressed in a blue kimono with golden dragons stitched all around it. Apparently, Sasuke had left his birthday party early.

"It was boring! Everybody was just sitting down and staring at me and comparing me to aniki!" were the pouting Uchiha's exact words. Naruto only laughed. Laughed like a hyena until Sasuke tackled him and a tear had been created on his kimono.

Sasuke was somewhat ecstatic when he received Naruto's gift. Naruto told him what Reno had told him and the raven haired boy just stared at him funny for a while, before smiling brightly and hugging his best friend. Naruto was just as happy as Sasuke was. He was never thanked for something, a wonderful turning point for him.

That was a month ago.

Today they were practicing: Sasuke teaching, and Naruto practicing and failing more than once. A lot more. Sasuke teased him and Naruto, red faced from anger, started throwing the weapons at him instead of the dummy hanging from a tree. Naruto was forced to stop after the girls of his class started beating him into a bloody pulp for hurting their 'precious Sasuke'. The raven haired boy sure had a great laugh, until the girls started squealing how cute he was and started chasing him all around the school. Naruto had the last laugh.

Yawning quite rudely, Naruto sat up from his position on the grass and stretched to the skies. Sasuke sure liked sleeping. Cause he would not have glared daggers at Naruto for waking him from his nap if he didn't.

"What?" Naruto asked cutely, tilting his head to the side.

Sasuke didn't answer, he just shifted a bit and stared up at the orange sky.

"Sasuke" Naruto whined, poking the soft porcelain doll face.

The hyperactive boy yelped in surprise when Sasuke bit his finger. He never did that! No fair! Naruto's eyes narrowed, making Sasuke bite down harder. Although, it was funny that they stayed that way for a while. Naruto's eye twitched every time Sasuke bit down harder. The Uchiha had a laughing smirk growing on his face. His onyx eyes glittered with mischief making Naruto gulp silently. That was never good. As long as he has known him, that glint in his eye meant no good was coming from him; it was always a bad sign for anyone. And he blamed himself, after Iruka had told him he was influencing his wily personality to Sasuke, only Sasuke had the potential to be a hell of a lot more crafty than he was and ever will be.

"Hehehe… You can let go now Sasuke," His free arm flailed about, a sheepish grin on his face.

Sasuke snickered and mocked him by pretending to think. His eyes averted to the sky and his face scrunched up in thought. Naruto whimpered and pulled at his finger. Sasuke only stared at him with a warning look.

"But Sasuke! That's not fair! I was just trying to wake you up 'cause I'm bored! And it's getting late." He added quickly, eyeing the sinking sun.

Sasuke looked at the sun behind the trees. It was getting late… With a small shrug he let go of Naruto's finger. The whiskered boy inspected his finger for punctured holes or scratches and found none. He sighed with relief then glowered at his friend who just smirked and propped himself up on his elbows. The younger one wrinkled his nose and looked at his finger again. He stuck his tongue out.

"Eww! Sasuke germs!" He stuck his hand in the water and laughing inwardly. A poor joke but still a joke.

Sasuke however, didn't take it too nicely. A twitch in his eye and he shoved the fox boy head first in the lake with his foot. He watched Naruto sputter and splash about in the warm water.

"Sasuke! It was a joke!" He climbed out of the water and mumbled under his breath. "Stupid cat…"

"Dammit Naruto I'm not a cat!" The raven haired boy jumped to his feet and shook his little fist.

"Kitty cat! Kitty cat!" Naruto teased and ran off, giggling. Sasuke ran after him, but quickly caught him since the boy ran around in obvious circles.

Naruto continued to laugh and call out 'Kitty cat!' as Sasuke attempted to choke him. Sasuke never took his jokes--that revolved around him—very lightly. He only did so when it was on one of their fellow students. But at times he got controlling and rude.

Naruto hated it when ever he told Sasuke about a prank he had in mind and the Uchiha would poke holes in the prank, telling him all the flaws by asking questions about it. The blonde would always end up being stuck thinking over on how to improve it. It irritated him to no end… But he mentally admitted that his plans would _sometimes_ fail if Sasuke had not pointed out the flaws.

After escaping the mad cat's clutches, the hyperactive fox ran off into the woods. Naruto was just squealing and giggling while swinging from limb to limb. His ears perked up as the sound of Sasuke's feet landing hard on the branches grew closer and closer. Jumping once more, he touched the mossy floor of a clearing. As he was about to jump for joy…

He was caught like the noisy fox he was…

Naruto dangled from a vine wrapped around his ankle. His small arms thrashed everywhere as his screams of surprise echoed throughout the thick woods.

"SASUKEEEEE!" he hollered.

Oh… he was going to get Sasuke for this! This was pure humiliation for a great prankster such as himself! Sasuke was in trouble! He was such a jerk! He was… rather good at this… but! He was going to pay! Regardless of whether or not others were around. Uchiha Sasuke was-

"What?"

…

Naruto looked at the branch next to him. Sasuke was in a crouching position, staring at his friend. Confusion and concern graced his smooth pale face. He tugged at the thick vine around Naruto's ankle and chuckled a little.

"Who caught you?" 'This is rather stupid… how could you get caught so easily Naruto?'

"Don't play innocent with me! You caught me! How did you do it?" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at his friend and glowered deeply at him.

Sasuke just tilted his head to the side. "I didn't do this…"

A surprised 'eep!' came from the bushes below them. Both younglings looked down. One silently rocked slowly with the vine as the other reached for ashuriken in his pocket. The bushes shook gently and something crawled out. A little creature… Possibly as small as Naruto was.

"Who are you?" Sasuke questioned, his cold mask that his father made for him slipped into place.

Another surprised squeak came from the creature. It quickly stood up and poked their fingers together. Naruto blinked. He knew that movement… a girl that sat in the far end of the class room with them always did that!

"Hey, hey! You're that girl in our class aren't you?" Naruto asked excitedly.

The small girl stiffened and but nodded. Sasuke's mask slowly melted away as his hand moved away from his pocket. A girl from class? Which girl? One of his fangirls or…

The little girl lifted her head up at them. Eyes as white as the moon that could not be blocked by the long darks bangs that escaped from the small ponytail at the nape of her neck stared up at them.

"…Hyuuga?"

The girl jumped at Sasuke's voice and nodded again.

"Hyuuga?" Naruto crossed his arms and had a thoughtful expression on his face.

The Uchiha stared at Naruto is disbelief then shook his head. How in the world did these two become friends you wonder? Sasuke wonders himself at times.

"U-Uchiha-san… N-Naruto-chan… W-what are y-you two doing h-h-here?" She stuttered out. A light blush spread over her cheeks.

"Studying," Sasuke said bluntly.

He stood up straight and crossed his arms, looking rather intimidating to the Hyuuga girl. She shivered then hastily averted her gaze to the blonde boy. Naruto still was thinking. Loud 'Hmmm…'s came from him, which was starting to infuriate the raven-haired boy next to him. Sasuke's brows furrowed when he noticed her blush growing strong as she continued to stare at Naruto. He let out a laugh. Well what do you know, that bratty friend of his had someone crushing on him. Yay for Naruto.

The Uchiha quickly untied the vine holding Naruto and jumped down, landing with a soft 'thump' whereas Naruto landed hard and loud.

"Owwwww! Sasuke!" the blonde boy whined, holding the growing bump on his head.

"You're Hinata, right?"

Hinata nodded and giggled a little. Naruto looked so adorable when he pouted. And he was already adorable enough! His eyes were so blue, his smiles were so bright and his chibi-ness only made him look so cute. The girls in her class would find her more unusual than they already did if she told them she liked Naruto better than Sasuke. Sure Sasuke was cool, smart, and tough, but there was something about him that didn't interest Hinata all too much. Naruto on the other hand, was loud and open to the world. Something a ninja shouldn't be. She found Naruto smart, in his own way. Naruto was someone that you could get along with and he wouldn't judge you too quickly or by what others say. Hinata didn't know when she started to like him… maybe it was when he came to class all loud and bright, the first day everybody noticed him. She giggled inwardly as she remembered the teacher threw a book at him but missed. Everybody was laughing at how funny he was. His pranks and jokes always made her laugh, small quiet laughs though, and when he smiled at her, she could not help but blush.

Sasuke's nose wrinkled. He was happy that Naruto had someone like him, he really did but he didn't want Naruto to-

"Oh yeah! Hinata! I remember now! Hey, you're kinda cute! Isn't she cute Sasuke?"

…end up becoming attached to her like he already was with him.

Sasuke didn't answer. This earned him a hit in the head with a stick from the loud boy beside him.

"Sasuke you're being mean!" the Uzumaki boy glared, then smiled brightly. "What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be at home now?"

The Uchiha rolled his eyes when Hinata started stuttering. He then blinked when Naruto's attitude didn't change at all. He was still cheery and receptive; did he not notice that Hinata was having a hard time talking because of him?

"Huh? What? What's making you talk like that? Do you always talk like this?"

Of course not.

"Hinata," Sasuke said firmly. She froze then looked up at him. "Speak clearly, you come from a family like mine, you should be talking like you know what you're saying."

Hinata gulped and held her head down. It was true… She should be. But it just wasn't her. She couldn't help it. Naruto however looked like he wanted to hurt Sasuke. He wasn't being very nice. In fact, he was acting like all the other older Uchihas.

"S-so sorry Uchiha-san… Um… I w-was saying that… I was playing with the others… When I got lost… N-Neji-niisan m-must be worried… I-I don't know where to go… A-and I'm sorry N-N-N…" She inhaled deeply. "Naruto-chan, for not removing the trap that my cousins set to catch animals…"

"Ahh it's ok Hinata! Want us to help you find your cousins?" Naruto jumped up and held out a hand, rubbing the back of his head with his goofy smile. A snort came from Sasuke. "Sasuke loosen up! She's not going to kill us or anything! Come on Hinata!"

The blonde boy bolted through the woods, with little Hinata being dragged behind him. Sasuke crossed his arms and glared at the back of the shy Hyuuga girl. He already didn't like her... Sulkily, he followed after them, back to their spot next to the lake.

What was he so angry? It was a just a girl… Why should he be angry? It was alright for Naruto to make more friends. The more friends, the happier Naruto gets. That's what he wanted right? To make sure Naruto was happy, really happy! But he was just itching to rip Hinata away from Naruto…

When he reached the spot, he watched Naruto show Hinata his plushies and scrolls. The girl was blushing harder. She liked him that much, huh? An eye twitch came from Sasuke. Why the hell did he feel so….

_Jealous_…

The Uchiha shook his head. No. He was not jealous. No way, no how. Shrugging the feeling off, he walked to the chattered boy and blushing girl and gathered his stuff.

"Ne, Sasuke! Why are you packing?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side.

"If we're going to find Hinata-san's cousins and get home without being in trouble we're going to have to pack," he pointed out, picking up his scrolls and putting them in his pack.

"Oh really? But," Naruto linked his hands together behind his head. "I was hoping we could play with Hina-chan." Hinata squeaked softly and her eyes squinted close, her face turned redder at the nickname Naruto had so quickly made for her.

Sasuke sighed and slung his pack over his shoulder. "We could play after school… Maybe. I know Hinata's father would not be very happy if Hinata didn't come home until midnight." Knowing Naruto, that's how long he would last with all that energy of his… Hecks no, he would last longer.

"Nyah… Sasuke you're acting like a grown up!" Naruto just pouted and pulled at a lock of Sasuke's hair. "Grown ups aren't fun!"

"Um… Naruto-chan… S-S-Sasuke-chan is right…" Hinata had pondered over calling Sasuke by his first name the whole time the two boys were talking. She had been calling all the Uchihas 'Uchiha-san' no matter what age for a long while. "Otou-san would be… not very happy if I came home late."

"Mmm… But… What if we can't play tomorrow?" Naruto cried out.

Sasuke just pushed him playfully. "Of course we'll play silly… I suppose Hinata would want to hang out with us, right Hinata?"

Hinata blinked then nodded her head vigorously. "Yes! Yes o-of course!" she squeaked.

Naruto smiled and grabbed her hand. "So! Where's your Neji-niisan?"

* * *

OMG! I am so sorry for the damn delay! O.O I never meant for it to last this long! I am so sorry readers but my creativity was really low for the longest time with all that cramming and party planning and everything that was draining me dry of happiness and my free time. Well... Please review…

And don't kill me –sweatdrop-


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